


Is it too late?

by Jessiebulby



Series: Better late than never - Klance fanfic series [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood and Injury, Happy Ending, Hurt Lance, Langst, Love Confessions, M/M, Paladins, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Sad, Sad Ending, Torture, Voltron, Worried Keith (Voltron), klance, klangst, poor lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2019-01-31 20:44:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 37,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12689916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jessiebulby/pseuds/Jessiebulby
Summary: “Guys! They are taking him! they are taking Lance!” Hunk screamed into the coms. Keith felt his heart skip a beat.“What the quiznack Is happening? Why are our lions not responding?” Pidge asked, fear lacing her voice.This couldn’t be happening. This was a bad dream. He was still in Sissian’s chamber with Allura and they were still messing with their head. That couldn’t be true. But it was…orLance has a bad feeling but they have a mission to accomplish.Some realizations come late and some promises are broken.Will they make it in time to save their lost paladin?





	1. Chapter one - Lance's Bad Feeling

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!  
> I hope you'll enjoy this Klangst fanfic. I got inspired by a dream I had a couple of weeks ago (in which Shiro wasn't present so I didn't include him either in this story, even though I love Shiro a lot and I would have liked to insert some Shallura -> Please tell me your opinion, maybe I could arrange some things to make it happen or rewrite this chapter to include him...). 
> 
> This fanfic would take place at the end of season 3, but with the coalition and the Blade of Marmora. So it has spoilers, from the entire series, but isn't really canon compliant. 
> 
> Please be understanding, this is my first fic and English isn't my mother tongue.
> 
> Don't forget to leave comments!
> 
> Thanks!!
> 
> (Copyright Disclaimer: I do Not own Voltron. All rights belong to their rightful owners)

They never visited a planet with such defense abilities before. It was called Neorya. The Neorians weren’t enemies or allies, they didn’t want to join the Coalition and the Galra didn’t even try to conquer their planet. Even with all their arsenal, it would take too much resources to win against them. However, the Voltron paladins found out that there was a special artifact on this planet that could help them win the war against the Galra empire. It would provide the Coalition with the same incredible defense power these aliens had. They needed it. Fortunately, Allura was able to communicate with their leader, Kilishka. Like all the Neorians, Kilishka was tall and slim. They all looked like grey lizards with humanoid faces, though their eyes were bigger. They even had tails. From what Allura and Coran new of them, they could switch gender according to their needs and likings. They were really religious people. They had a high priest protecting the famous artifact, which was believed to be a gift from a higher power to protect them against evil. 

At first, the team was reluctant to try and get the artifact. It felt as if they were stealing their protection. But, after careful considerations and some talk with the Rebel fighters and the Blade of Marmora, they were convinced that it was a good decision, well pretty much everyone, but Lance still felt like something was telling him to stay away from there. But he new that with that, they would be able to take a big step forward in bringing peace to the universe, so he didn’t assert his concerns. He had these strange insights since he became the red paladin, as if his new position as the second in command made him develop new instincts. He didn’t always know how to react to these. It felt like he was always worried for no apparent reasons. Maybe it was because he took his role as a second in command really seriously, especially with Allura’s speech always at the back of his mind, and Keith, who was now the black paladin was the most impulsive and careless person he knew. The guy just always ended up in dangerous situations and didn’t seem to care about his safety at all. Well, Lance made it his job to ensure he would be Keith’s impulse control and keep him safe no matter what. It worked well so far. He didn’t tell anyone of his new self-assigned role, because he didn’t want to recognise that he cared about the boy with strangely beautiful purple eyes and dark mullet hair… Yeah, he definitely couldn’t tell anyone. 

The team was on the bridge. They had sent a call to the Neoryans explaining the situation and their purpose and were anxiously waiting for their answer. They hoped the Neoryans would agree to discuss with them to possibly borrow the needed artifact. 

Lance was sitting in his chair, a little bored, but still curious to know what was the Neoryans’ response. He just wanted this to be done already so the strange angsty feeling he had would go away. Strangely, his eyes always wandered to Keith. Why was that? It’s not like Keith was doing anything special. Actually, it’s been like this for a couple of weeks already. He changed lately, he noticed it. He didn’t fool around or flirt with aliens as much anymore. Now, he was the right hand of the black paladin, so he had to give his best for keith… for the sake of Voltron and the universe, of course. That’s why he’s been training with Keith. It wasn’t because he happened to like spending time with him or because he was developing some kind of bond with him while battling robots in the training deck. No, not at all… Ok, maybe just a little, alright, but he would NEVER admit it to anyone. 

Keith suddenly turned his gaze to Lance and walked to him. He leaned a little against Lance chair. Lance didn’t know how to react, which was strange. Why having Keith close to him felt so good and so wrong at the same time? It made him angry. 

“You OK Lance?” asked Keith in a low voice.

“Sure, Mullet. Why do you ask?” Lance answered as naturally as possible. 

“Stop calling me that, I’m just trying to act like a good leader here,” Keith groaned. “It’s just… You look anxious. What is it?” 

“I know you care about me, Samurai, but I’m OK, I promise,” Lance said with a confident smile. When did Keith became able to read Lance this well? Lance didn’t know if he liked it or not. He had things he didn’t want to share with others and he didn’t want Keith to be the one to notice this. 

“Yeah, I care, OK? You’re my teammate, that’s normal,” Keith answered, hardly containing his annoyance. He was trying his best to act like a real leader. Lance had seen his efforts and knew Keith was doing his best, like him, to be good for the oth… the team… for the team. And now, Keith was staring at him with his big purple eyes and Lance couldn’t hold his gaze any longer. Keith really did care, Lance could see it in his eyes, and that made him feel uncomfortable for some reason. 

“Alright, since you’re begging me… I just have this like bad feeling, or something... I don’t know how to explain it, but I feel like we shouldn’t go on Neorya,” he admitted. 

Keith kept his eyes fixed on Lance. When Lance looked up to Keith, the black paladin still didn’t react for one or two ticks, as if to see if Lance told the truth and if he really was concerned. Like Lance himself, Keith needed confirmation that Lance’s instinct was good. He knew they should inform the rest of the team. It lasted only an instant, but Lance saw it when Keith decided he trusted Lance's instinct fully. Over the past few week, their trust in one another had improved exponentially. Now, they almost never had any hesitation when they needed to count on each other for missions and even in training. Their leader-and-right-hand relation had brought them to become real space-ranger partners and they both liked this evolution from their initial rivalry. 

Just as Keith looked to the rest of the team as if he was about to talk to them, they got an incoming message from the Neoryans. The other members of the team who were busy on their own, focused back on the main screen. Kilishka informed them that their people allowed them to pass the first defense layer of the planet and come to the surface to meet with their officials. However, they asked that the paladins descended with their lions to prove their identity. Allura accepted immediately and told them that they would be on their way to meet them shortly. 

Keith moved to the center of the bridge just as the communication ended. It was too late to cancel this meeting with the Neoryans officials now, even if he took Lance’s aprehensions seriously.

“So, Hunk and Allura will talk with Kilishka and the other officials, because they are the most skilled with diplomatic stuff. Meanwhile, Lance, Pidge and I will act as bodyguards and ensure that everything goes without any incident,” Keith told them, serious and calm like the leader he was trying to be.

“Why so careful?” Pidge asked. “Is that what you two love birds were talking about by yourselves earlier?”

“Shut it, Gremlin, we are NOT 'love brids'. I have a bad feeling and I told Keith because he’s our LEADER,” retorted Lance, annoyed by his space little sister's comment.

“Yeah, yeah, keep denying it, but the blush on your face tells a different story,” Pidge added, giggling, visibly trying to anger Lance. That’s usually how she reacted when he acted like an annoying brother and called her a “gremlin”. Even when they were acting like this, they still cared about each other like real siblings and that's what made their relationship feel like they weren't so far from home, they were there for each other like family, like space siblings. 

“But if Lance as a bad feeling about this, I think we should maybe, like, not go at all. I mean, I’ve known Lance for years and, even if he has a lot of bad ideas, he also has pretty good instincts,” Hunk explained now visibly nervous. It wasn’t hard to make Hunk anxious, especially about the possibility of a mission going wrong. However, strangely, for someone who disliked going out of his comfort zone, Hunk had adapted really well to his new life as a defender of the universe. Lance really admired his best friend for that. He didn't do so well, and he still struggled with homesickness.

“We can’t back up now, it’s too late, we already told the Neoryans we were coming. It would cause tensions and it might be even more difficult to obtain the artifact afterwards,” Allura said. 

“The Princess is right. It would be rude to decline their invitation now. In any case, you’ll all have your lions, so you’ll have them to protect you. And don’t forget, I will oversee things from the castle, so there shouldn’t be anything to worry about,” Coran reassured them with confidence.

“Yeah, hum… not to be pessimistic, which I am anyway, but with their super defence and layers of shields, I don’t think you could really do anything if something goes wrong, Coran,” Hunk said, increasingly anxious. 

“Don’t underestimate me, Number 2, I may be powerless with the castle alone, but I’ll call the entire Coalition to come to your rescue faster than you could possibly imagine! That is IF something actually goes wrong,” Coran retorted. 

“Seriously, guys it’s just a bad feeling, nothing to worry about,” Lance said nonchalantly, standing up from his chair. “Coran’s right, we’ll have our super powerful lions, so we’ll be fine for sure. We’ll go to this meeting, talk a little, maybe meet some cute lizard-like aliens or I don’t know, have a good time and be back for dinner with the artifact.”

“’Some cute lizard-like aliens”? For real, Lance?” said Keith, visibly judging him. 

“Come on, Keith, I’m just open-minded. I don’t judge people by their appearance unlike you!” Lance said, offended. 

“Or he’s jealous and doesn’t want you to go around flirting with everything that has even just slightly humanoid traits…” Pidge whispered even though everyone heard anyway.

“Pidge!” screamed Lance and Keith as one.

Allura, Coran and Hunk laughed a bit, also amused by their "family" banter. 

“OK, everyone, we’ve wasted enough time already," Allura cut smoothly. "I think we all agree that we have no choice but to meet the planet’s officials now. We acknowledge your concerns Lance, but the most we can do is be even more attentive to any possible danger and act carefully. Now, everyone, get to your lions, we’re going to Noerya,” she announced, taking control of the situation. 

Lance still felt uneasy, even with Coran’s positive arguments and Allura’s orders to be cautious, and even with his own attempt to convince everyone that his bad feeling might not even be valid. Weirdly enough, Lance turned his gaze to Keith, again, beside him, hoping to find in the half-Galra’s purple eyes some comfort. Keith looked at Lance at the same moment and smiled. Keith tapped Lance’s shoulder reassuringly and hold their gaze. 

“It’s gonna be alright, I’m gonna make sure nothing’s gonna happen to any of you, I promise. That’s my job now as a leader, remember?” Keith said, taking his role so seriously he didn't even try to tease him. 

To Lance it felt a little surreal. Keith was really trying to reassure Lance, and Lance... he wanted this, that's why he had looked at Keith in the first place, but he had just realised that. 

“Yeah, but I’m the one who’s gonna save your ass if something happens, count on it!” Lance responded, looking almost angry. This new realisation led him to some other random thoughts he had had before, but never acknoledged.

Keith laughed. “Come on now, sharpshooter, everyone’s waiting.”

At that moment, seeing Keith’s carefree smile for this brief instant, Lance felt really scared. It’s like he realised that Keith and him had really become close enough to search for reassurance in each other in times of uncertainty and fear, he remembered other similar moments, things that led them to their current relationship. They counted on each other now for support. They were more than rivals, more than a good team… He knew that he didn’t want anything to happen to Keith, like any of his friends. But this fear was deeper… Like… Like, maybe, his feelings for Keith too. Something, at the back of his head encouraged him to move forward on these thoughts, like some kind of unjustified eagerness, putting pressure on his mind, like he would regret not doing it now, like time was running out…

"Lance?" Coran asked, seeing as the Blue paladin had still not moved from his spot.

He shook his head, trying to get back to reality. Now was not the time to have some epiphany or emotional revelation. He had a mission to accomplish and he had to stay focused. 

"Yeah, sorry, I'm going," he announced walking rapidly towards his passage leading to Red's hangar.

However, with all these strong emotions and weird feelings, Lance was sure of it now: something bad was going to happen on this mission. He just hoped it wouldn’t involve the loss of one of his friends.


	2. Chapter 2 - Neorya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter two!  
> I hope you enjoy this story, because I like writing it.  
> Fun fact, I always loved writing, but I haven't been so active in almost a year. I'm pretty happy about it!
> 
> The angst (expecially langst) will surely start in one or two chapters, depending on their length, so be patient.
> 
> Please, don't forget to leave Kudos and comments! 
> 
> Thanks!!

Keith was angry. The Neoryans asked to meet only Allura and him inside the second layer of protection, which meant that they were now separated from the rest of the team. Because of that, they were all separated in small groups by the Neoryans' shields, making them vulnerable. Allura, on the other hand, was really confident that the Neoryans didn’t have any intention of doing them harm. However, the other paladins kept thinking about Lance’s bad feeling. This whole situation was a mess. Keith was not good with the diplomatic aspect of being a defender of the universe. That’s why he initially assigned Hunk to meet the Neoryans with Allura. These two were the best when it came to connecting with other alien races.

 

At least, Keith and Allura, who had to leave their lions on the other side of the second shield with the other lions, had the best fighting skills on their team. So, if the Neoryans ended up having some hidden evil plan, they didn’t isolate the best opponents top go against.

 

Allura was discussing with Kilishka and the other officials. Keith surveyed attentively their surroundings. They were in the centre of some kind of gigantic crater. They planet was in fact mostly made of rocks. The Neoryans lived of the underground sources and weird agriculture. There were fewer than ten Neoryans with them. Behind the Nilishka and the other officials was the entrance to the tunnels, where the high priest and the artifact were hidden. The planet's star was close to the horizon, but not enough to change the turquoise sky’s colours. It would set in only one or two vargas. It was a little strange, because to the castle time it was about 1 or 2 pm. Keith's thoughts were drifting.  

 

It was normal, he was bored and really annoyed to have to just stand there beside Allura for so long. He didn’t dare say anything in case he messed up their whole mission because he couldn’t socialize well. He knew he wasn’t the diplomatic type, even Lance was better than him. Lance was really energetic and could also involuntarily cause awkward situations, but he had some kind of charm and wasn’t a loner at all, so at least he had social skills.

 

Since Keith and Lance dropped their rivalry a bit, transforming it into friendly competitions once in a while, Keith was able to recognize Lance’s qualities. The Cuban was more than just a cargo pilot. He had good shooting skills and was able to form good plans in a variety of situations. Keith and Lance were equal, no matter what it looked like and no matter Lance’s insecurities. He knew about them. Lance had told him…

 

—

[8 Weeks Ago]

_Lance was usually really lazy and didn’t like training, so Keith was surprised when he passed by the training deck one evening and found him there, training by himself. It felt out of character. Keith watched Lance fight the training robots for a couple of dobashes. Lance wasn’t using his Bayard and that bothered Keith. When he couldn’t handle watching his teammate getting his butt kicked this way any longer, he entered the training deck and ended the training._

 

_“What the quiznack are you doing exactly?” Keith asked._

 

_“It’s none of your business, Mullet…” responded Lance, offended and moving to exit the training deck._

 

_Keith stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “You weren’t using your Bayard because you want to improve your close-combat skills, right?”_

 

_Lance passed his other hand behind his neck and let it drop lazily. “Yeah, maybe… Anyway, I was done, so you can have the training deck all to yourself now.”_

 

_“Do you want to train with me?” Keith asked, which also surprised both of them. This was knew to Keith, proposing help and such. But he was trying to be a good leader, like Shiro used to be. This is why he acted like this. “I could maybe show you a trick or two,” he added._

 

_“No, no thanks, I’m good,” Lance answered, visibly wanting to escape this awkward situation._

 

_“Anyway, if you change your mind…”_

 

_“I know where to find you? I mean, you almost live in the training deck, so yeah... Anyway, I’m gonna get going, I have plenty of things to do, like… really important things…” Lance trailed off and left the training room in sort of a hurry._

 

 _Keith was a little confused. Was his social skills that much terrible?  He_ _didn’t know how to interpret Lance's reaction. For him, people in general were hard to read. But Lance was something else entirely. He was always, loud, clumsy, flirty and annoying, but Keith knew that Lance was more than just that. Lance just showed it in rare occasions where he was somewhat in a fragile state._

 

_To Keith’s surprise, Lance was again on the training deck the day after at the same time. He looked like he was waiting for Keith._

 

_“You’re late,” Lance complained._

 

_“Oh, so you want to learn from the me now?” Keith asked, teasing Lance._

 

_“ugh… Never mind, I’m leaving,” Lance said walking towards the exit, drove by his hurting pride._

 

_“Oh, come on, Lance... I’m messing with you. Stay...” Keith almost begged, feeling bad for making fun of Lance while it was obviously hard for him to accept his rival’s help._

 

_Lance suddenly stopped in his track not turning to face the half-Galra. His fists were both clenched on both sides of his body and his shoulders were tensed. Keith was aprehensive. What was Lance doing?_

_“Keith… I have to do this. I can’t be lazy anymore. I already told you once, we’re fighting a war. As Voltron’s right hand and as your right hand, I have to give all I’ve got to improve my combat abilities and deserve this place as a paladin. I might always be the seventh wheel, but I’ll make sure I never let any of you down, even if I have to ask advice from my rival.” Lance spoke with a unnaturally serious tone. The Cuban then turned to face Keith again. “That’s why I won’t leave. Show me what you got.”_

 

_That was exactly the "more than just that"  that was so rare to witness from Lance, this appealing depth. The boys smiled to each other with determination and appreciation. Keith was happy that Lance confided in him about his concerns and the reasons behind his new resolution to improve his skills. Some things Lance said bothered him, but he preferred not to point them out, Keith wasn’t good with deep insecurities and emotions, but he could help Lance train and reach his goals._

 

_From then on, they met almost every evening on the training deck, sparring, learning from each other, developing dual-combat skills, battling robots in team and improving both their skills. They still got into arguments sometimes, their rivalry became more fun and less of an irritating insult-war relationship. They enjoyed each other’s presence now and it affected Voltron and their whole teamwork positively. Allura was really proud of them, especially of Lance who was doing what she expected of him as a paladin. Even if he essentially remained the same loud and lively boy with a tendency for laziness when he wasn’t training or in missions and a passion for skin care. In fact, no one on the team wanted his personality to change. He brought something special to the team. He was really the “goofball” as Pidge stated once. It wasn’t a bad thing at all. They needed someone like him to lighten everyone’s mood. No one of the other paladin could fulfil this role like him. He was essential to the team, and he didn’t even realize it. Keith decided he would to talk to Lance about it eventually._

[1 Week Ago]

 

_“End training sequence!” Keith screamed, breathless._

 

_Lance dropped to the ground, breathing as heavy as Keith._

 

_“Well, that was intense!” he exclaimed proudly. They had just beaten their training level record._

 

_“You’re getting good, I told you it would be like this. Better than your ‘well-rested’ strategy, right?” Keith said teasingly, because Lance had once refused  Keith's proposition to train with him because of laziness, or  in favor of being "well-rested" in Lance's words._

 

_“We agreed on that weeks ago already.” Lance started, but then realization came. “Wait, wait, wait! You said I was GOOD!” Lance pointed out. It was the first time Keith actually complimented him without hiding it with some kind of euphemism. At this moment, Keith also realized something: they really weren’t rivals anymore. They still tried to look like it, but, in the end, they were teammates, they were friends… And now, they were even partners. Lance would say they were “space partners". This thought made Keith smile._

 

_“Yeah, you’re good Lance,” Keith admitted without any shame. “You’re well on your way to become a ‘cool goofball ninja sharpshooter’ or I don’t know,” he added._

 

_“Are you making fun of me, Samurai? And why did you keep the ‘goofball’? I’m not a goofball,” Lance complained. Keith found it funny, but he didn’t mean to insult Lance, so he decided it was finally time to be frank with Lance._

 

_“I’m not making fun of you. And I’m done pretending I hate you and insulting all the time,” Keith started his tone growing strangely angry, probably because he was on the verge of telling Lance what he truly thought about him and he didn’t really know how to handle the strong emotions that he felt in that moment. So, it all got out with some unintended anger. At least, he was mostly able to control it, so it didn’t look like he was actually angry at Lance. “For your information, yeah, you’re the team’s goofball. And you know what? It’s great! You make everyone smile, even when we're all feeling tired and down. That's why you’re essential to this team. Without you it’d be hard to keep everyone’s mood positive…” Keith’s voice became suddenly strangely calm. “And… and, without you, this place wouldn’t feel so much like home.”_

_—_

“Keith, are you listening to me?” Allura asked, concerned.

 

“Sorry, no, Allura, I was daydreaming. What were you talking about?” Keith asked, a little embarrassed by his inattention.

 

“It’s not really the time to slack off, buddy,” Lance added through the coms.

 

“Easy for you, you can do anything you want in your lion,” Keith responded, anger rising from all this annoying situation. He just wanted it to be over already, to go back to the castle with all his teammates alive and well and the stupid artifact they were trying to obtain.

 

“You hurt my feelings, Keith! Pidge, Hunk and I are attentively looking over the entire area from our lions so we can save your ass if something happens. Right, Hunk?” Lance argued with confidence and trying to find support in his best friend.

 

“Actually, Lance…” Pidge started, hesitant, before being cut off by Hunk’s snoring.

 

“Hunk! You traitor!” Lance screamed over the coms waking Hunk up at the same time.

 

“Wha-what? What’s happening? Is it done yet?” Hunk asked confused from his sudden come back to wakefulness.  

 

“No, Hunk, I was about to explain to you all what the Neoryans’ officials and I agreed on. They want Keith and I to take a trial in the tunnels. It appears that the place is a maze and only the worthy can find their way to the artifact and back. I don’t know for sure what awaits us in the tunnels and what danger we might face, but I propose we take the trial. I believe Keith and I can do it,” Allura told them, with her usual calm determination. This woman was strong in mind and body. If she believed they could do it, then they trusted her, but the situation was different than usual. 

 

“We take the trial then,” Keith agreed.

 

“No, nope, it’s too dangerous. I bet it’s a trap!” Lance said.

 

“Yeah, it’s pretty risky,” Pidge agreed. “How do we know if we can trust them? You look like you’re certain they won’t do anything bad, but we have no real proof. If something happens in the tunnels, none of us will be able to get to you soon enough.”

 

“And, just to remind you all, Lance had this weird feeling before coming to the planet’s surface, so maybe it’d be best that you two avoid going alone in unknown tunnels where you’ll be even more away from us and your lions, and where we possibly won’t be able to reach you through the coms,” Hunk added, worried about his teammates and still troubled by Lance’s bad feeling. Hunk was really superstitious, even with his strong intellect. That was an interesting trait of him. Even if he was a genius in engineering, he still had this carefree and imaginative personality. Even if most of the time, the imaginative part came in the form of worst-case scenarios when going on dangerous missions that made him freak out a bit before someone reassured him effectively enough.

 

“Guys, it'll be alright,” said Keith. The others waited for the rest of his reassuring words, but they never came. He really didn't know what to tell them, but his instinct told him Allura and him would be fine in the tunnels. 

 

“Real reassuring Keith, I like your arguments,” Pidge said, sarcastically.

 

“Team, it might not be much of an argument to you, but I can feel that their objective is pure. I don’t know how to explain it, but I know deep down that they can be trusted,” Allura told them.

 

“Allura, is it, like the magic stuff you can do?” Lance asked.

 

“Yes.”

 

There was silence over the coms. Everyone was worried. Were they ready to risk the lives of two of their teammates for this mission over Allura’s feeling? Would they instead listen to Lance’s instinct and leave without the artifact?


	3. Chapter 3 - Worst case scenario

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> THERE IS SO MUCH ANGST IN THIS CHAPTER!
> 
> Some realisations are made on both sides. 
> 
> I hope you like it! 
> 
> Please don't forget to leave kudos and comments!
> 
> Thanks!!

“May I speak my mind, paladins?” Coran asked.

 

“Sure, Coran. What do you think we should do?” Allura said.

 

“Even if I’m concerned about your safety, princess, I think we should follow your instinct. I believe in you and Keith. I’m sure you two will be fine,” he added.

 

“Then, it’s decided. Let’s do this, Allura,” Keith said, ready to finally get into action.

 

“Be careful, guys,” Lance added almost inaudibly, but at least Keith heard it.

 

—

 

Keith and Allura entered the tunnels. They were well lighted and wide, but really irregular. They decided to always stay together no matter what and try and follow the same pattern all the time in the direction they took. They turned left, then right, then left, then right… They would just have to do the opposite when going back to the surface, right? No, they were very wrong. This was not a one plane maze, there were ways up and down, the tunnels weren’t always linear, they turned and twisted and sometimes they divided into two, three or even 5 other tunnels. Sometimes they came across a dead end. This wasn’t good. They tried to get back to the entrance of the maze, seeing that it was more complicated than expected, but they weren’t able anymore. Somewhat they ended somewhere they had never even been to before. They were lost. At least, before they entered the maze, they told the other paladins to come to their help is they didn’t come out after 45 dobashes. At least, there didn’t seem to be any other threats than the maze itself.

 

They had been there for about 20 dobashed already when a shiver suddenly ran through Allura’s spine and Keith felt a strange tension settle in his shoulders. What was this sudden ominous aura around them.

 

“Can you feel it too?” Allura asked, getting instinctively closer to Keith.

 

“Yeah.”

 

They looked around searching for the source. A tunnel grabbed their attention. Something dark was surrounding the edges. They shared a concerned look.

 

“Do we go there?” Keith asked.

 

“I… don’t know. Normally, I would by any means stay away from this place, but since it’s the only clue we have to get to the artifact, maybe we should.” She was hesitant. She hated the feeling of darkness emanating from this particular tunnel. But, maybe it was a trick, something to discourage people from getting to the artifact.

 

“Let’s try getting close,” Keith suggested.

 

They started walking towards the dreaded tunnel. When they were almost in, a voice reached them from the depths of the maze.

 

“Welcome to my chamber, visitors from space.” the voice said.

 

It was like all the Neoryans’ voice, genderless. But the person’s voice was curiously soothing, like a mesmerist. It seemed to caress the letters of each word. If serpents could speak, they would sound like this, Keith thought.

 

“We mean you no harm. We are here to retrieve a special artifact that could help us bring peace to the universe,” Allura said with a surprisingly confident tone.

 

“Princess Allura of Altea, and half-Galra Keith Kogane of Earth. What a strange duo you form… What are you waiting for? Come, enter my chamber.”

 

Keith and Allura followed the guidance of the Neoryan they believed to be the famous high priest. Once they moved deeper in the dark tunnel, everything changed around them. They were now in a gigantic majestic chamber decorated with gold sheets and treasures. There was a big bed at the centre on which a Neoryan, bigger, slimmer and more elegant than the others they had met so far, was sitting leisurely.

 

“Hi, I am Sissian, Noerya’s high priest,” they told them with an appeasing smile.

 

“We would introduce ourselves as well, but it seems you already know who we are,” Allura said.

 

“Yes, it is true.”

 

“How?” Keith asked a little annoyed that it didn’t seem possible to him. Only a selected handful of people knew about his Galra heritage.

 

“I have psychic abilities. Thanks to these abilities I can create this maze and make you believe that you are lost, while having access to all the information contained in your mind.”

 

“Should we be wary of you?” Allura asked, uncertain of how to react now that she knew this.

 

“Well, that depends… Either I let you leave with the artifact or I never let you leave at all, that was the deal, no?”

 

-

 

Lance’s uneasy feeling was growing stronger by the minute. He really didn’t like it.

 

“25 dobashes…” he murmured, nervous.

 

“Common Lance, your boyfriend will be back in no time,” Pidge teased.

 

“Keith’s not my boyfriend, Pidge!” Lance retorted.

 

“Deny your feelings all you want, but we’ve seen the way you look at each other,” Pidge continued.

 

“What are you talking about?” Lance asked with an offended tone, but truly interested. Did… Did Keith look at him a certain way?

 

“Yeah, man, you two got really close lately. Now you’re always spending time together, and laughing, and looking at each other with soft smiles, even when the other doesn’t look. It’s pretty obvious.”

 

“What’s obvious? I don’t…” Lance asked, feeling annoyed by this conversation. He knew he felt something weird for Keith, something he never felt before, but he didn’t know how to interpret that. He didn’t know how to address these feelings. It… It couldn’t be love right?

 

“Lance, my boy, even I’ve seen you two act around each other. You both don’t see it at the moment, but I suppose that maybe with a little push we can help you,” Coran said.

 

“No, nope, we don’t need help to any sort of weird ideas got into your mind, thanks!”

 

“Lance, I speak of experience here, we are fighting a war. You’ll regret it if you lose your chance to tell him how you truly feel,” Coran said, his voice laced with the weight of the past.

 

There was silence over the radio for a couple of ticks. Lance knew Coran was right. He thought about Keith for a second, imagining losing him. With the uneasy feeling still lingering around in his head, an extreme fear came crashing in his mind. It would break him. He would lose his mind if something happened to Keith. And he knew it wasn’t the same fear he felt when thinking about Hunk, his best bud. It was deeper, stabbing his heart with an ice pick and burning it with a blaze of flames. He wanted to deny it again, but maybe… Maybe they were right. Maybe he had something for Keith. The half-Galra was good looking, he had dreamy purple eyes and he loved to make him laugh, the sound made Lance happier than anything else. But… even if, maybe, he had feelings for Keith, the guy would never ever reciprocate them. It would never happen in a million years. Keith didn’t do well with feelings, Lance would get punched in the face if he told him these weird deep emotions Coran, Pidge and Hunk noticed. Was he even attracted to guys? Or to anyone in fact? Lance had never seen him flirt or anything. He needed air…

 

“I’m going outside, I have to pee,” Lance announced, still with his annoyed tone.

 

-

 

“How can we convince you to let us leave with the artifact?” Keith asked getting a little bit impatient.

 

“How impatient. I’ll tell you soon, but right now you’re the interesting one.” Sissian stated.

 

“Why?” Keith asked.

 

“My psychic abilities’ reach happens to be just a little past the second shield, as you call it. That means I can use my powers on your fellow paladins too.”

 

Keith and Allura didn’t like what Sissian said, they felt increasingly uneasy. Were they going to threaten them?

 

“Relax, I cannot use any dangerous abilities against them from here, but I can still explore their minds deeply. And I just wanted to tell you, Keith, you shouldn’t fear love.”

 

Keith just looked at Sissian a few ticks, totally confused. Allura had her eyes on Keith, searching for answers.

 

“Wha-what are you talking about?” Keith asked.

 

Sissian laughed a little bit, visibly amused by their reactions.

 

“You’ll understand soon… Anyway, I think I played with you enough already. Sorry, I rarely have visitors, so I often end up keeping them longer than necessary. To be honest the trial was just to see if your intentions were pure, which I confirmed the moment you set foot in my abilities’ scope. I think you deserve the artifact. Its power is immense. I hope you’ll be able to save the universe from Zarkon’s empire. Please keep this artifact away from evil doers, protect it like I protect my people.” Sissian said, passing their hands on a delicate necklace around their neck.

 

Sissian removed the long necklace. The pendant, which was the artifact they came to this planet for, was a simple dark stone that looked like a galaxy. As they were handing it to Allura, Sissian’s eyes suddenly widened in fear and turned automatically to Keith.

 

“You have to go,” Sissian said seriously. “You have to go to your friends NOW or… no... You’ll be too late…” They said. They seemed scared and sad. “I’m so sorry… If I had known…” They said, crying, as Allura and Keith were exiting the chamber, listening to Sissian’s orders, as scared as them or even more now. Once they got out, they arrived not even a couple of metres away from the entrance to the “maze”. They ran, concerned about their friends. They got on the surface in record time. The Neoryans applauded and congratulated them. Keith ignored the Neoryan’s compliments and praise and kept on running towards the lions. Allura would handle their rejoicing for diplomatic purposes. Keith had a team to protect.

 

“You did it! Yeah!” Hunk exclaimed joyfully through the coms, making Keith slow down in his rush. Hunk was fine and didn’t seem distraught. Maybe Sissian had been wrong…

 

“Good job guys!” Pidge added. Keith was walking now, Pidge sounded relaxed to.

 

“Yeah, congrats everyone,” Coran said, proud of them. “To celebrate, I’ll make a big feast for when you return!” Keith stopped. Everything was fine, Coran would have noticed if something was wrong with the lions or the paladins, right?

 

“No, Coran ! I make the feast, stay away from my kitchen!” Hunk threatened Coran.

 

“Alright, alright, Number 2, I’ll let you the pleasure to make the feast this time,” Corand said a little disappointed.

 

“And all the others too,” Hunk said, tone definitive.

 

“Thanks everyone, I’m finishing here and going back to the lions as soon as possible,” Allura said.

 

“What about you, Keith?” Pidge asked.

 

“I’m already on my way,” he answered, resuming his walking. Someone hadn’t talk yet.

 

Allura and Keith were happy to hear their friends’ voices. They seemed alright. After a couple of ticks, something seemed off to all of them.

 

“Can’t wait to get back to the castle and train with Lance, right?” Pidge asked, her tone like she was trying to make a point.

 

“Well, yeah, why do you ask?” he answered, confused, but also realising that, he really looked forward to spending time with the Cuban boy again. Weirdly, he remembered Sissian’s advice. But something felt off. Lance hadn’t said anything since they got out of the tunnels. It wasn’t his style. The Cuban was normally so loud. Why was he so silent now? Keith was increasingly worried.

 

“See, Lance?” Pidge said. He heard Hunk giggling slightly.

 

Silence.

 

“Lance?” Keith asked, ignoring Pidge’s question.

 

He didn’t answer.

 

“Lance said he was going to pee just before you exited the tunnels, maybe he didn’t bring his helmet and that’s why we can’t reach him,” offered Pidge.

 

“I’ll go take a look, see if everything’s alright. Y’know, maybe he wanted to poop too and he forgot to bring toilet paper.” Hunk announced.

 

“Thanks Hunk,” Keith said, ignoring Hunk awkward reason and just reaching the crater’s wall. Keith entered the Neoryans’ drone meant to get him out of the crater.

 

Suddenly there were loud noises over the coms. Sounds of explosion.

 

“Guys! They are taking him! they are taking Lance!” Hunk screamed into the coms. Keith felt his heart skip a beat.

 

“What the quiznack Is happening? Why are our lions not responding?” Pidge asked, fear lacing her voice.

 

This couldn’t be happening. This was a bad dream. He was still in Sissian’s chamber with Allura and they were still messing with their head. That couldn’t be true. But it was…

 

“We can’t get out of the lions! We can’t help him! It’s too dangerous!” Hunk screamed.

 

“It’s a rebel group of Neoryans… They are… Oh no, Keith you have to save him!” Allura screamed.

 

 “Lance! Oh my God, he’s hurt! They have some heavy weaponry! And what is THAT?” Pidge asked. “It’s what’s doing something to our lions. It’s like they are frozen. They can’t move. That’s why none of the lions reacted when Lance was attacked!” she answered herself.

 

“I’m coming!” Keith announced as the drone reached the edge of the crater. As soon as he was high enough, Keith jumped to the ground and started running towards the lions, Bayard already activated. He had to save Lance… Then he arrived to the second shield.

 

“The shield Allura! Tell the Neoryans to drop the second shield now!” Keith screamed, scared and angry.

 

“They don’t want to because of the rebels! I can’t convince them! Listen, Kilishka, you have to…” Allura’s voice died down as she turned her microphone off to talk to the Neoryans’ officials. She was as angry as Keith, or almost as much.

 

Keith could only see the scene before his eyes, trapped behind this stupid shield while his friends were in danger. Pidge and Hunk were in their lions, incapable of moving them while the rebels attacked them with freaking bombs. The lions shook at each impact. Keith could hear Hunk and Pidge screams as their lions were bombarded. The attack on the lions wasn’t meant to damage them. It was meant to prevent Pidge and Hunk from fighting back and saving Lance. Lance who left a trail of blood on the ground as he was dragged, unconscious, to a dark vehicle.

 

“Lance! No, Lance! Leave him alone!” Keith screamed, his voice becoming more and more raw, while punching the shield in front of him, not caring how it hurt him.

 

Just before they put him in the car, Lance’s eyelashes fluttered open. He raised his head slightly and met Keith’s gaze. Then Lance smiled a little. His whole expression was sad and scared and it broke Keith’s heart. Then Lance’s lips moved. Even if Keith couldn’t hear a thing in that moment, too disconnected from reality and so shocked that his senses weren’t working anymore, he knew what Lance had told him. And it angered him so much.

 

“Don’t! Don’t be sorry, you stupid goofball! I’ll save you! I promise! I… I love you!” Keith screamed without thinking, tears streaking down his face in a seemingly unending flow.

 

Lance’s eyes lighted up an instant, but then his helmet was forcefully removed and tossed away. A rebel hit him hard on the head, and Lance lost consciousness again. He was thrown unceremoniously into the dark vehicle. Keith was threatening them, losing his voice to words of hate he didn’t know he could think of. The other rebels who were attacking the lions were then called to get back to the vehicle. A few ticks later, everyone of them was on aboard and the vehicle left at maximum speed. Lance was gone.

 

Keith fell to his knees, feeling completely powerless and petrified by fear and sadness.

 

He remembered Sissian’s word again: “you shouldn’t fear love.” It all made sense now.

 

That’s why he told Lance he loved him. Was it too late though?

 

The second shield let him pass through.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Rebels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A big Hunk POV chapter. Next will either be Lance or Pidge POV. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> Don't forget to leave kudos and comments! 
> 
> Thanks!!

Hunk got out of his lion and ran towards the direction the rebels took. He didn’t know exactly why he had run, there was basically nothing he could do by running. His run slowed down with the realisation. He couldn’t do anything… One or two meters away layed on the ground the fallen helmet of his teammate. He walked slowly to it. He took it in his shaky hands and brought it to his watery eyes. It couldn’t be true. Lance couldn’t be gone.

 

“Hunk! Come help! We… We have to do something about this!” Pidge yelled hysterically. She wasn’t doing well either. Hunk quickly got to her, beside a big machine, nothing like they’ve seen before. It had a demi-circular form and was resting on the flat side. It was made of a translucid matter that emitted some kind weird energy. This energy seemed to freeze the lions’ quintessence. Pidge was right, they had to turn off the device if they wanted to move their lions and go save Lance. However, they knew nothing about it. Pidge had tears in her eyes and was frantically searching the weird alien object, like she could find some kind of illumination on how to disarm it. Well, maybe she could have done just that, because she was a genius, but she was too unstable.

 

“Pidge, Hunk! The Neoryans know how to turn it off!” Allura yelled, just now jumping out of the drone that brought her to the top of the crater’s edge and immediately running to them with the Neroyans’ officials on her heels. Hunk was relieved to hear that. At least they weren’t stuck there for an indefinite amount of time. But then, Keith, who hadn’t move from his spot in front of the second shield until then, violently grabbed Kilishka by their collar. Everyone stopped. Keith’s eyes were full of anger and pain.

 

“What. was. that?” He asked, clearly hardly letting them the chance to explain themselves.

 

“They… They are a group of rebels,” Kilishka stuttered, scared. “We didn’t know they had access to such weapons. These are extremely rare.”

 

“I don’t care about that! Why did they take Lance? Why didn’t you stop them?” Keith yelled.

 

“They have extremely high stealth abilities, they were able to pass through our detection systems. And, to be honest, we never thought they would come after one of the paladins. We believed it was only a problem of civil matter,” Kilishka explained.

 

Hunk looked at his friend and couldn’t help but be as angry as him. Lance told them something was going to go wrong, they were careful, they believed everything would end up fine if they were more cautious. The Neoryans should have told them they had some internal conflict amongst their people that could have affected them. They should have let them all inside the second shield.

 

Hunk saw that Keith wasn’t happy with Kilishka’s answers. He was furious and wanted to let off some steam on someone, obviously. It would surely happen to be on Kilishka if they didn’t say something to help their case soon. Hunk didn’t dare intervene. Keith could be really scary at times, like now.

 

“Where are they taking him? What are they going to do with him?” Keith asked.

 

“We… we don’t know!” the Neoryan yelled, more and more scared by Keith’s growing anger.

 

“Keith… It’s not their fault,” Allura said, compassionate of his feelings, but still firm. Keith looked at her, then at his other teammates. He saw that they were as pained as him. Hunk saw when Keith realized he was wrong. The half-Galra drew in a deep breath and exhaled loudly, letting go of Kilishka’s collar, calmer but visibly still on edge.

 

“I… I can tell you that,” Kilishka started stepping a little away,” it’s useless now to try and get your teammate back. The rebels are known for their cruel ways. Even if you succeed in finding him, you’ll never really get him back. You should…”

 

Keith’s fragile calm disappeared automatically. He punched Kilishka in the face before anyone could react.

 

“Keith!” Allura yelled, horrified. “Why would you do that?”

 

Keith ignored Allura and looked at Kilishka, serious. “You might be the type to leave a friend behind, but we are not. We will never abandon him. We will save him.” Keith said, tone final. He walked away. Hunk couldn’t help but feel that this was a whole scene was a waste of time, he just wanted to let the Neoryans turn off the device that kept their lions frozen. He felt bad for Keith, but all this was useless now. Only one thing mattered right now: getting Lance back before anything worse happened to him.

 

“So, um… Could you please give us a hand here?” Hunk asked, voice desperate.

 

The other Neoryans moved right away. Hunk could see that they felt somewhat responsible for what happened to Lance, that’s why they didn’t condemned Keith’s actions. Hunk was grateful that they still agreed to help them even after Keith had punched their leader. The half-Galra just really didn’t have any diplomatic skills. Like at all.

 

Since it was more technological than mechanical, Hunk let Pidge handle things with the Neoryans. They showed her step by step how to disarm the defensive weapon, which seemed pretty complicated, so that she would be able to do it herself if they happened to come across another one of these. Hunk walked towards Allura who had a scared and shocked look on her face. Hunk followed her gaze and saw the same thing as her: the blood that covered the ground over which Lance had been dragged. Hunk got to her and gave her a hug that surprised her. He had tears in his eyes, still emotive.

 

“Don’t look,” he said in a soft voice. He couldn’t bring himself to look at it either without feeling really awful. It turned his inside upside down, and that was not a good thing considering his fragile stomach.

 

“I… I convinced you all to come to Neorya. Even with Lance’s bad feeling,” she said, voice trembling, emotions now breaking her strong front. That’s what hugs did to people. It made them open up and stop burying their emotions, it made them feel everything and liberated them from their burdensome invisible weight. She would feel better afterwards. She cried little tears, and then quickly regained her composure. She moved away from Hunk with a sad smile, grateful that he gave his shoulder to her for a moment, and looked at Kilishka who sat on the ground not far from them. She joined them.

 

“What is this civil conflict you were talking about?” she asked, inquisitive.

 

“I think I owe you this explanation. It might be a long one,” they added before starting. Hunk and Allura didn’t budge, indicating that they didn’t mind, Kilishka continued. “You see, in our population, there is usually only one high priest. But a couple of decaphoebs ago, there happened to be two possible high priests, twins of the previous high priest. The high priest always dies when they give birth to their child and successor. It’s how their powers are passed down. However, it was the first time that the high priest was pregnant with twins. Our population agreed that the first born was the right heir to the role of high priest. However, a marginal part of the population, one that wanted to forcibly take power over our government for decaphoebs now, kidnaped the second child and formed a rebel organisation away from us. They… They are now making their move. The second child must be powerful enough now. Our high priests, their powers are unique and incredible. They can do marvellous things, but they can also do horrible things… It depends on the values passed on to them. So, if you really wish to save your friend, be wary of the second high priest.”

 

Hunk and Allura were attentive to Kilishka’s words, it was a… peculiar conflict. So power struggle and civil war happened on other planet than Earth, but with magical children and stuff like that. Well, everything was possible now, right? Like, they were pilots of magical robot cats, so yeah Hunk could swallow the magical children thing.

 

“Thank you for sharing this useful information with us, that might help us retrieve our friend. And sorry for our leader's bad temper.” Allura said, visibly trying not to cause to much friction between them.

 

“I warn you again, and I speak of experience… You should really give up before you regret it. When you find him, if you do, he will already be lost,” Kilishka said, even if he knew his words would fell to deaf hears.

 

“Thanks for the advice, but no thanks,” Hunk responded. “I’m with our violent captain over there on this one. I might be the most afraid one, but I won’t leave my best friend with some freaky brainwashed magical alien to be hurt,” Hunk explained, confident.

 

At that moment, the device freezing the lions’ quintessence stopped working. The lions were back online, and two of them were visibly extremely angry. They roared like never before and got on their feet, almost leaving immediately.

 

“Thanks! Now, they’ll regret having taken our goofy sharpshooter!” Pidge yelled, already running to her lions’ mouth.

 

Hunk turned around to inform Keith that the lions were moving again, which was pretty obvious, but anyways, as he turned the half-Galra was already passing by him, like he had been waiting for it attentively, which was probably the case in fact. Hunk moved too, following Allura.

 

“Yeah! You’re back online! Now let’s not wait any longer, paladins! Bring our blue paladin back!” Coran encouraged them from above.

 

Surely, the Altean was feeling pretty useless since this all started, but he was still trying to give them some sort of support, which they REALLY needed at the moment.

 

“Yeah, let’s save him and show these people what happens when you hurt one of our own!” Keith said, still pretty furious.

 

Hunk wasn’t normally someone for revenge, but this time he really wanted to make them pay. They hurt his best friend in the universe and might do even worse. He really wanted to believe in Keith, to be as sure as him that they would be able to save him before they lost him for good, but he couldn’t help being anxious, or more like terribly scared. He didn’t want to lose Lance like that, because they were careless, because they didn’t listen to his instinct, because some info was hidden from them. Ok, there was the fact that they couldn’t always move or not move because of someone’s hunch, but they should have left when things got messy, when Keith and Allura got separated from the rest of the team. They should have seen that the situation was two disadvantageous to continue without too much risk. They were careless and now they had to deal with the consequences, or more like Lance had to deal with them.

 

Once the paladins were all ready, the lions left at top speed. They knew where to go, linked to the blue paladins’ quintessence. They would be there in no time.

 

Well, Hunk had been naïve. After a couple of dobashes, lions going at high speed, they stopped abruptly. They got on the ground and started walking in circles, as if they didn’t know where to go anymore. Then the lions roared and stopped moving.

 

“What’s happening, buddy boy?” Hunk asked to his lion. Then, he felt despair at the back of his mind. This wasn’t good.

 

“Why did they stop? What’s going on?” Keith asked, angst tainting his voice. The half-Galra really did care a lot about his lost teammate. That was pretty undeniable now in fact, the guy had screamed that he loved Lance about half a varga ago. No one wanted to talk about it now. It wasn’t their right to do it and really not the time, but they were happy that Keith had at least been able to finally open up his heart to the blue paladin.

 

“This awful feeling…” Allura started, scared.

 

“If they stopped… It couldn’t be…” Pidge trailed off, voice shaky.

 

“No! No, there’s no way! Not so soon, they wouldn’t have done it so soon!” Keith yelled, like screaming would help prove his point. Hunk noticed how Keith said “it” to cover what nobody wanted to bring forward. Hunk didn’t want to think about it either. It was like saying or even thinking it would give it power to become reality, and he wasn’t ready for that. He didn’t think he could ever be…

 

Lance was like a brother to him. When they met in their high school years, they became friends really quickly and formed an awesome duo. They always got into trouble because of Lance, but it was amusing. Hunk liked how Lance could easily get him out of his comfort zone. Yeah, not always when it happened, but when he thought about it later, he liked it, it was funny. Life with Lance was always entertaining. Proof was that thanks to him involuntarily getting the team together, they met Allura and Coran and became defenders of the universe. Now, they battled purple aliens, saved planets, ate strange food… Yeah, hunk missed his family from Earth, but he found a new family in space in the castle of lions, and he was thankful for it. The one that needed most to be thanked was Lance. It was him that decided to convince Hunk to go to the closest city for the night, but decided to follow Pidge instead, and then ran after Keith to save Shiro. He brought them all together in some way.

 

Maybe Allura was the heart of Voltron, but Lance was the heart of their little space family.

 

“You’re right Keith!” Coran exclaimed in the coms. “If they wanted to… end it soon, they would have done it before. My guess is that they want him alive for a while longer, either to use it against us or to get information out of him.”

 

“Then why are the lions not moving?” Keith asked.

 

“Maybe they possess some kind of device that interfere with the link between Lance and the lions,” Coran explained.

 

“That would make sense. Maybe it’s similar to the thing they used against the lions when they captured him,” Pidge confirmed.

 

“Do any of you have an idea of what could help us find Lance?” Keith asked, knowing that they needed more than leadership or combat skills to come up with a solution. Silence answered him for a while, everyone thinking deeply about possible solutions. They weren’t really easy to find.

 

“Hey, Allura, didn’t Kilishka said that he was speaking of experience when he warned us a second time earlier?” Hunk asked.

 

“Oh, you’re totally right. He did tell us that. Maybe he would have further clues to help us find these rebels.” Allura proposed, even if going back to the Neoryans wasn’t something any of them wanted to do, it was like proposing to start all over again. They were wasting time.

 

“Then let’s go back to the Noeryans. They better tell us all they know, I’m not in a mood for messing around,” Keith decided, choosing to take a step back to better help Lance. Their lions were already moving again, back to the edge of the second shield.

 

“I feel ya, buddy, but try not to punch Kilishka in the face again. That would probably not encourage him to help us, you know.” Hunk said.

 

“I can’t guarantee anything, but I’ll try,” Keith answered.

 

Hunk felt like his comment eased the atmosphere between all of them. It wasn’t much, but it was good enough for now. They were all tense and anxious, they couldn’t function well this way.

 

Hunk wanted the real tension breaker to be here and help everyone relax.

 

But most importantly, Hunk wanted to save his friend before… before it was too late.


	5. Chapter 5 - Lance's soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this is from Lance POV!
> 
> I have some ideas for the next chapters, which will come out in the next few days for sure.
> 
> Next will surely be from Pidge's POV. I try to have everyone's POV. So I'll certainly write chapter's from Allura's and Coran's POVs. 
> 
> From now on, it may take more time in between each chapter to update, because I'm starting my finals next week and I'm going to be super busy. 
> 
> Also, you can follow me on tumblr and message me to talk about my story :)  
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/prettygoo-d
> 
> Please let me know what you think of my story and leave Kudos!
> 
> Thanks!!

Lance came to with an awful headache. His whole body felt cold, tense and painful. He groaned and opened his eyes slowly. He was a little confused for a couple of ticks, looking at the ground. The place was dark, illuminated only by lamps outside his… his cell. Had he been captured? His mind was all fuzzy. He tried moving, but found out it was a bad idea, his arms and middle section screaming in pain even more. He looked up and found out he was suspended by heavy chains around his wrists. His feet weren’t touching the ground and weren't bound to any chains. It's not like his legs were a threat anyway, he was so weak he might not even be able to move them. He looked down. There was a pool of blood under him. That explained the weakness. The blood came from a gun shot in his abdomen. The shot must not have gotten any vital point, which was good, but he was still bleeding, and that was bad. If he didn't have medical care soon, his life could be in danger. If the captors were aliens, they certainly didn't know that. Who were they exactly? His memories were kind of fuzzy.

 

What happened?

 

He couldn’t remember well, there were images, but they didn’t make sense at all. He must have had a concussion. That would explain the splitting headache and the memory loss. The last thing he remembered was leaving in red for Neorya. So, something wrong happened during their mission, his bad feeling had been right.

 

Keith…

 

Why was he thinking about him specifically?

 

Why did he feel so sad yet strangely happy at the same time? It didn’t make sense. Did something happen to Keith too?

 

No, something told him the half-Galra was safe. And the rest of his team too.

 

Then why did he think so much about Keith, the boy he… the boy he had feelings for!

 

Suddenly, it all came rushing in his mind.

 

 

-

 

 

_Lance was just getting outside his lion, annoyed by his friends, but also by his mixed feelings. He had tried so hard all this time, mostly unconsciously, to develop feelings for someone else, even if they were aliens. Keith had never left Lance indifferent, but he just didn’t know how to deal with how to interpret it. He thought it was rivalry, or irritation, or hate, or even jealousy. But he was wrong all this time…_

_When they first met, at the Garrison, it was in class, nothing really special. Lance had a couple of classes with him. Keith was always sitting alone by the window, like the cool loner he was. Lance always thought the guy looked somewhat good. He was everything Lance aspired to be: a genius fighter pilot with girls and boys all over him. Even if Keith didn’t seem to notice, he did. Anyway, even if they never talked, Keith got on Lance’s nerves._

 

_“He’s so annoying,” Lance randomly complained to Hunk during lunch._

 

_“Buddy, you have to let go, he’s just not onto you,” Hunk said._

 

_“Wh-what? No, that’s not what it is, Hunk.” Lance said, taking offence._

 

_“Not to say the obvious, but I’ll say it anyway, you’re always looking at him and talking about him. This is weird, man,” Hunk pointed out._

 

_“That’s not weird, we’re rivals!” Lance said._

 

_“Yeah, well, that would be OK if it was true, but Keith doesn’t even know you exist,” Hunk told him._

 

_“If he’s not already, then, he’ll become my rival! You’ll see, I’ll make him notice me!” Lance guaranteed._

 

_“You definitely have strong feelings for him. ‘I’ll make him notice me,’” Hunk repeated, imitating his friend in a caricatural manner._

 

_“Feelings of dislike! Hunk stop imagining strange things,” Lance said._

 

_“Keith’s always alone, if you really want him to notice you, just go talk to him.”_

 

_“Seriously? Not doing that, the guy’s creepy, always on edge. I’m sure he would punch me just for getting close,” Lance said._

 

_“OK, he’s a little emo, but not a dog with rabies. Just give it a try,” Hunk encouraged him._

 

_“Not happening, Hunk,” Lance said, decisive, getting up and leaving his friend who hadn’t finished his lunch, escaping the subject at the same time._

 

_He thought of Hunk’s words for a couple of days after that… and finally decided to listen to his best bud. Maybe Keith was always alone because he just didn’t have friends and was not good with socializing. Lance told himself that he was only acting out of pity when he went to Keith’s desk before the class started. Before he could reach him though, he was pushed away by a bunch of hysteric girls who also happened to want to be “friends” with Keith. Lance was so pissed, he didn’t try to be his friend again after that._

 

_Keith rejected the girls and never noticed Lance. He ended up flunking out of school. Lance thought he’d never see him again…_

 

_His thoughts were trailing off. What he was thinking before the incident was important, though. He was just starting to recognize that maybe Hunk, Pidge and Coran were right. That he had real feelings for Keith, and that maybe it wasn’t even new._

 

_But then, what happened…_

 

_He saw the strange device and a bunch of Neoryans strangely dressed appear out of nowhere, like they just teleported. One second he was looking at the emptiness of the rocky planet before him, the second there was a big vehicle, a strange translucid device and a dozen unknown Neoryans. He didn’t have time to react before the device was turned on. This was bad, he knew it!_

 

_“Guys! I think… I think we’re in trouble!” He shouted over the coms. He got no answer. He turned around to run to his lion’s mouth, but he was faced with a big Neoryan. This guy must have been on steroids or some kind of alien drug that made him really muscly, because he was unnaturally huge, even for his species. Lance felt intimidated for a second, but put on a brave face immediately._

 

_“That’s the one we’re taking,” the Neoryan before him said. Lance knew this wasn’t good news. He had no intention to go anywhere with them._

 

_“Taking me where? On a date? No, I don’t think so. You’re just not really my type!” he responded, moving like he usually did to take his Bayard from his belt. However, the Bayard didn’t appear and he looked ridiculous. He put the blame on this stupid device they had just activated. The Neoryan pointed a gun at him and pulled the trigger before he could even try to dodge. Lance dropped to his knees, clenching his side where he was just shot. He panted hard, panicking. He looked at Red. She would have protected him if she could, he knew it. So, the device affected the lions too. They were really in trouble. These guys were a real threat to them. But he couldn’t do anything and now he was wounded._

 

_“Did you mean to do something like this?” The Neoryan asked with a malicious smile._

 

_Lance only stared with a heinous look in his eyes. He was scared, like REALLY terribly scared, with this wound he had no chance left, but he would not give in. He pushed a button on his helmet._

 

_“Guys, I love you all. And Keith… I’ll miss training with you.” He said hardly dodging a punch to the side. “OK, truth is, I’ll miss you, a lot.”_

 

_At this point, whether he made it alive or not, he wanted Keith to know a little of his feelings. The Neoryan hadn’t understood what he said, because of the movement, but anyway, it’s not like it would change anything if he had known. “I wished I could’ve seen my family one more time…” he added before turning off the coms._

 

_“It’s useless to try and call your friends now,” the Neoryan told him, walking slowly toward Lance seemingly enjoying torturing him._

 

_Lance didn’t answer, putting pressure on the bloodied wound at his side and clenching his teeth to swallow back a scream. He tried to get back on his feet, but the Neoryan didn’t leave him the time to do it. Lance was at his mercy, wounded and without backup. Time seemed to slow down as the Neoryan’s huge fist collided with the side of his helmet. Lance dropped hard to the ground. He would have been dead if it wasn’t for the helmet. His vision went black and he lost consciousness._

 

_When he regained consciousness, Lance heard explosions all around him. Two hands were holding his arms. He was dragged on the ground. He opened his eyes, confused. When he looked up, he saw Keith. He was at the edge of the Neoryans’ second shield, hitting it with all he had, like that would do something. Lance smiled, at least he got to see him one last time. Too bad, he looked so angry and terrified at the same time. Lance knew he was partly the cause of his torment._

 

_“Sorry,” he croaked sadly, even if Keith couldn’t hear him._

 

_Keith knew, he understood Lance, and he was even angrier. He started screaming other things, surely at him. Lance couldn’t follow his words… But then, then Keith made a small pause. Was he crying now? Yes, he was… It wasn’t fair, Keith looked good even in this state. The words Keith just said to him… he knew what they were. He was sure of it, even if it seemed totally impossible, Keith had said that he loved him…_

 

_He wanted to say it back so bad, but then his helmet was ripped off his head and thrown away by a new Neoryan that hit him to the head again, making him fall into darkness again._

 

_-_

 

Lance smiled, even in his situation and in his state. At least, Keith loved him. He never thought it would feel so good to hear… well, more like see, Keith say this. For an instant, Lance felt hope. If he survived through this, he would ask Keith on a date.

 

A couple of dobashes later, he heard footsteps coming his way. They stopped in front of his cell and the two Neoryans opened the doors. One was the muscly one from before, now called Muscle, and the other one was smaller and skinnier, but not less intimidating, these people were huge to begin with. Lance called the last one Chibi.

 

“Hi, not happy to see you. Actually, I’m waiting for my team to come and get me, so could you please leave,” Lance said, trying to cover his fear with mockery. That didn’t work as well as he’d hoped, his voice being a little too shaky.

 

Muscle smiled, which didn’t reassure Lance even a little.

 

“We have a surprise for you,” Chibi said with the same smile, gesturing to Muscle. He walked up to Lance and put something dark over his nose and mouth, tightening it around his jaw so it wouldn’t move. Lance tried to fight against it, but he didn’t have much force left in him. He didn’t have time to think about the reason they would put this on him, other Neoryans walked in as soon as Muscle was done and installed a screen in the corner of the cell.

 

“I’m sorry, but your friends won’t be coming. But let’s call them, shall we?” Chibi said, making Lance shiver. “We wouldn’t want them to miss the fun…”

 

Lance wanted to know why they were doing this, but the muzzle prevented him from asking. The screen came to life, and he knew he had to be strong for his team. He had to believe in them until he drew his last breath.

 

The bridge appeared on the screen, only Coran was there, and Lance was relieved that the others didn’t have to see him like this.

 

“Lance!” Coran screamed, terrified and shocked.

 

“Hi, my name is Lishia, I am the true high priest of Neorya. I have a message for you and the paladins. I believe you are in possession of an artifact that is supposed to be mine. I propose an exchange: your paladin’s soul for the Neoryan Heart,” explained Chibi, now called Lishia, even if Lance thought Chibi was better.

 

Lance reacted automatically to Lishia’s deal, totally against it, making sounds and shaking his head vigorously. They couldn’t accept it. It meant giving bad people the power they needed to do whatever evil plan they had in mind, and Lance didn’t want to be the cause of it. Coran’s upset eyes were on him, but then Muscle punched his abdomen, on the other side of the wound, not wanting to aggravate it, but still wanting to attack the nerves close to it. Lance closed his eyes tightly, trying not to cry under the awful pain. At least, he still felt something… You know, positivity…

 

“What do you mean by ‘his soul’? And I… I have no control over this choice, I’m only the princess’s advisor. If you could wait just a few dobashes for the paladins to get to the castle…” Coran started, panicked.

 

“No,” Lishia cut him off. “At the end of this call, you will receive coordinates. This is where you’ll leave the stone. Until then, he’ll be mine…” Lishia then walked to lance and placed one of their hands in front of his face. A weird bright white energy reached him.

 

Then it touched his quintessence and he felt pain like he never had before all over his body. He screamed in agony, even if the sound was muffled under the muzzle. He would have begged them to stop if he could. He just screamed and cried shamelessly, unable to hold back or try to act though, everything was too painful. It was like every fibre in his body was torn apart. He couldn’t feel anything but suffering.

 

At this moment, for the first time in his life, he wished to die. He just wanted it all to end… But then, he heard something over his muffled cries and the pounding of his heart in his hears…

 

“What are you doing to him?” Keith yelled over the screen, horror filling his voice. “Stop it! Lance! We’re coming! We’re gonna save you! Please, please, stop!” he shouted.

 

“Stop hurting him! Give him back!” Pidge screamed too.

 

Lance was looking at them, still screaming, his vision was becoming dangerously blurry. He couldn’t see them, but to hear their voices and know that they cared was a little solace in his agony. It only lasted an instant though. The pain was more and more intense, and then he couldn’t hear anything, his heart was beating to fast, his mind was going crazy, his vision couldn’t focus at all anymore… Was it coming to an end?

 

No.

 

Suddenly, there was nothing.

 

Nothing to feel.

 

Nothing to hear.

 

Nothing to see.

 

He was in an endless darkness.

 

He was still somehow there.

 

 

 

 

But… They were too late.

 

He was Lishia’s now.

 


	6. Chapter 6 - The Neoryan Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I was able to finish chapter 6 earlier than expected! 
> 
> This is from Pidge's POV, as promised. 
> 
> Hope you'll enjoy! 
> 
> Don't forget to leave kudos and comments! 
> 
> Would you prefer a sad ending or an happy one? 
> 
> Maybe I'll do both ;) 
> 
> Thanks!!

[One varga ago]

 

“This is the answer you are looking for,” Kilishka said, opening a door to a white room that contrasted heavily with the dark rocky maze of their planet’s underground community.

 

They weren’t supposed to be allowed there, but with the actual situation and a kind recommendation from the high priest, they agreed to let them in. The other Neoryans they crossed kept their distance and watched them from afar, hiding in dark corners, afraid of the unknown they represented. The Neoryans weren’t used to seeing strangers. Only the leader and the officials met the outsiders, and they were pretty rare.

 

Pidge didn’t mind, what interested her the most was their defence and agricultural technologies, but, even then, she didn’t have that in mind at the moment. She would sacrifice all that knowledge a thousand times to get Lance back. She was awfully anxious and that made her fidgety. She needed to do something, she couldn’t lose another brother.

 

After a quick conversation with Kilishka, asking for information on where might be Lance and the “experience” they seemingly mentioned to Hunk and Allura before, the Neoryan leader decided to show them the extent of what they were up against. This is why they were brought underground to this weird room.

 

Everyone was really curious, especially Pidge. She wanted answers, but she didn’t expect them to be so saddening…

 

There was a bed and machines all around it, likely essential to keep the person lying in the bed alive. The person had their eyes slightly open, but unseeing. There were tubes going through their mouth and nose. They looked, dead, but their heart was still beating and their lungs were still breathing, even if both needed the help of numerous machines to do so.

 

“This is Naïm, my child,” Kilishka said. “They were kidnapped by the Rebels a couple of quintents ago. They wanted me to give up my duties as the Neoryans' leader. That would have created chaos amongst our population, which would have led to a favourable situation for the Rebels to attack and forcefully take power. I… I couldn’t agree to their deal. They told me that, in order to save my child, I had no other choice, and that until then Naïm would stay in this state and suffer until he drew his last breath. Naïm's state has been decreasing steadily. We don’t know what’s happening, but my child’s not with us anymore and… and doesn’t have long to live anymore,” Kilishka added, voice wavering, full of pain and guilt.

 

The paladins were silent. So, that explained why they had warned them that it was useless to try to save Lance, they believed that he would suffer the same fate as his child, that meant he would end up in a vegetative state waiting for death. Kilishka probably thought that the team would suffer more by watching their friend die slowly without being able to help than let him be.

 

That didn’t explain why the Rebels had kidnapped Lance though.

 

“The Rebels will contact you soon. They certainly have a request,“Kilishka added, as if he had read Pidge's thoughts. “I suppose you have the artifact the high priest gave you? It’s called the Neoryan Heart. It contains all the knowledge of our former high priests, which means all the information we possess on our technology, including our defence devices and weapons. That’s probably what they want.”

 

Kilishka’s tone was serious. They tried to hide their emotions as best they could, but the paladins could see that they were angry. That was because the Neoryan leader didn’t have any power on what they did with the artifact anymore. They could give it to the Rebels and let Kilishka's people be doomed.

 

Pidge could understand Kilishka's pain and anger, but she didn’t know if she could have reacted the same way as them. Maybe she would have accepted the deal and try to handle the consequences. To her, family was more important than anything… Lance was part of her chosen family and she would save him no matter what, but she was a paladin of Voltron, her responsibilities surpassed her desires now and the decision wasn’t hers alone to make.

 

“Don’t fear, Kilishka, we will find a way to save our friend without causing harm to your people,” Allura assured.

 

“Thank you, Princess Allura,” Kilishka said, grateful. “I was scared that my own sacrifice would be for nothing,” they added, taking their child’s hand.

 

“That’s why you told us to give up, that’s…” Hunk said trailing off, obviously having mixed feelings.

 

“It doesn’t matter, we’re going to get him back,” Keith then said.

 

“So, you said that all the knowledge regarding your defence devices and weapons were inside the… Neoryan Heart, right?” Pidge started. Kilishka nodded, so she continued on her deduction. “That means that we have all the info we need, or most of it at least, to develop devices to counter them!” Pidge said, suddenly optimistic.

 

“We already tried this approach, expecting them to develop similar weapons in the future, but our devices and weapons are pretty well made, so we weren’t able to really come up with anything useful yet. I doubt you could…” Kilishka started.

 

“Don’t doubt her, she’s a genius! And stubborn, especially when it’s for someone she cares about!” Hunk said in her favour.

 

Pidge stood beside his friend with pride. “And Hunk’s an awesome engineer too!”

 

“Yes, they could be of great help to you if you let them have a look at your work. That might help us get our friend back and protect you against future conflict with the Rebels. I truly think that this association would be advantageous to us both,” Allura explained with a bit of positivity in her voice.

 

“Then, I’ll show you our work, but I advise you to go to your castle now. The Rebels will surely communicate with you soon, as I said, and I think you wouldn’t want to miss their call,” Kilishka told them.

 

Pidge was happy, she felt like she was useful, she could do something to help get Lance back. Allura and Hunk seemed as glad as her that they were getting somewhere, even if a little slowly. Keith, on the other hand, was brooding in the back. In a normal situation, Pidge would have teased him to lift his spirit or indirectly prevent him from feeling excluded, but she knew that now was really not a good time. He had confessed to Lance a few vargas ago as the Cuban was brutally captured by Rebels. He just saw what might happen to the boy he loved. It was a miracle that he was even able to stay by their side and contain his anger and frustration. He was like a ticking bomb right now, the others knew it too, so they didn’t dare approach him in any way, afraid he might explode.

 

Yeah, they were giving the space he needed.

 

“Coran? Is the Castle grounded?” Allura asked.

 

“Yes, princess! Do you want me to join you?” he asked, his tone almost as enthusiastic as usual, even with the actual circumstances.

 

Coran was trying hard to hide his worry. Everyone knew that Lance was Coran's favorite paladin, so the Altean was surely hardly keeping appearances, acting like the good optimistic advisor he was. Pidge, like everyone else, being aware of that, was thankful to Coran. They all needed support with what was happening right now.   

 

“No, we will come back to the Castle. It seems the Rebels will soon send us a call. We will be there shortly,” she said before turning to Kilishka and thanking them for their time and help.

 

The team left after that and exited the tunnels a few dobashes later. They were walking fast even if they were starting to feel tired and the stress of the past few vargas was now settling on their mind and body. But they couldn’t rest now. They had to push their limits for Lance’s sake.

 

[Now]

They were walking to the bridge when they heard it, the muffled screams…

 

Keith ran past everyone else right away, Pidge followed immediately after. It was Lance’s muffled screams. She could feel agony in them, and it broke her heart. She was scared of what she would come upon once to the bridge. She was right to be...

 

When they arrived to the bridge, Coran's needed façade was gone. He was looking at the screen, profound horror painting his face, an expression they had never seen on him before. But this was nothing compared to the suffering they saw in Lance’s eyes through the biggest screen of the bridge. Something dark covered most of his face, which muffled his screams, but it didn’t change how his expression of torture reached them. Pidge took a second to look at the situation Lance seemed to be in. It was awful. She knew he was hurt, but she couldn’t see it well when Lance was captured, now she could see that it was really serious. He had been shot and it was still bleeding, making a puddle under him. He hung from the ceiling, chains around his wrists. But, most importantly, there was this strange Neoryan in front of him that was doing something terrible to him. It was some kind of magic trick and it made him suffer like hell.

 

Keith arrived beside Coran, surprising the shocked Altean man.

 

 “What are you doing to him? Stop it! Lance! We’re coming! We’re gonna save you! Please, please, stop!” Keith yelled with despair, his voice almost breaking, letting all his contained emotions go. 

 

Pidge joined him, angry and scared.

 

“Stop hurting him! Give him back!” she screamed.

 

Her space big brother was in pain and she couldn’t do anything. She could only watch as the Cuban’s watery eyes turned to them. He had surely heard them, but he clearly couldn’t focus on them, and that aggravated their distress.

 

“Leave him alone!” Hunk added, crying of sadness and anger. Pidge started crying too.

 

“Lance!” Allura shouted, worried, as the boy’s eyes suddenly rolled back in his head.

 

Lance's head lolled down his chest, no longer conscious. He looked… dead. Pidge fixed him intently, fear growing in her stomach by the tick. Then she noticed the rapid rise of his chest. He was still alive… That was better than nothing. As long as he was alive, there was still hope, right?

 

The strange Neoryan had something in their hand that Pidge hadn't notice before, which was strange because something like that was prominent in the environment Lance and his captors were in. It was a pale blue stone that curiously resembled the Neoryan Heart. It was beautiful and bright. The Neoryan quickly showed the stone to them, before tossing it to a muscular Neoryan behind them. The same Neoryan freed Lance from his chains, letting him fall hard to the ground, then grabbed him carelessly by the arm and dragged him out of the cell.

 

“Lance! What did you to him?” Keith yelled, almost jumping directly to the screen, like it could teleport him there so he could go berserk on them and save Lance. Pidge wish it would be feasible, but it was simply impossible. Even with the craziest innovative scientific ideas, teleportation to an unknown location was simply ridiculous. They had to know where they were going, as Allura did when she created wormhole. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to pinpoint the exact place they wanted to teleport to and would end up like they did when they went through the corrupted wormhole: lost and in danger. But this was another matter, what was important now was Lance. 

  

“Your advisor will inform you of my demands, but do not despair, paladins of Voltron, you can still save him… even if his time is short now. I know you won’t agree to my deal right away, so I’ll leave you a little... say, gift at the coordinates you’ll receive shortly. I hope we can come to an agreement before it's too late,” they said in a sweet tone that made Pidge want to punch them in the face… with a chair… repetitively.

 

Then the screen went black and Coran started tapping vigorously on the touch pad underneath it. He was concentrated and on edge, like everyone else right now.

 

“Coran, what did they tell you? What’s going on?” Allura asked, panicking.

 

They already knew the answer, Kilishka had told them, but they truly wished it was something else, something that would be easy to deal with. Coran didn’t answer, just showed them the recorded call he just had with the Rebels. Everyone watched it attentively, feeling worry and hate mix in their beings as the muscular Neoryan and Lishia stated their demands and hurt Lance in front of their eyes. As the video ended, Coran completed his own task.

“The coordinates… I have them! Go to your lions, now! I’ll send them to you, it’ll be faster this way!” the Altean ordered them.

 

They didn’t need to be told twice.

 

The coordinates led them to a vast plain. From afar, their lions detected something where they were headed… Pidge saw a zoom of the object in question. Her heart missed a beat. It wasn’t an object…  

 

“Oh my God! It’s Lance!” Hunk shouted as they all had the same realization.

 

Pidge knew something was wrong. She even hoped it would be a trap or something that would only put them in danger and not Lance this time. She knew she was being naive. The leader of the Rebels, Lishia, wanted to force them to give them the Neoryan Heart, but the paladins agreed that it wasn’t a possible solution. 

 

If Lishia really gave Lance back, then they had reasons to expect the worst, and they already somewhat knew what the worst was.

 

When she got out of her lion, Keith already had Lance on his lap, wearing a worried expression without a care. Keith was finally letting some emotions show without the usual anger or annoyance, and it hurt Pidge, because that was so out of character of him to do that, which meant that this situation affected him more than they could even imagine. Keith really cared about Lance, but he realized it too late...

 

“Lance? Lance, please wake up,” he said voice small as he shook the hurt Cuban teenager a little.

 

Pidge looked over Lance’s body. He needed medical attention right now. Hunk was on his knees beside his best friend, one hand hesitantly taking Lance’s limp hand.

 

“Come on, buddy, open your eyes,” he pleaded.

 

Then, a miracle happened... a poisoned one though. Lishia had said that it wasn’t too late to save him, but they weren’t sure if that was true anymore, because when Lance opened his eyes, they were unseeing, like Naïm's.

 

There was no light in them.

 

No life.

 

Lance was gone.


	7. Chapter 7 - Soul Stone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one's from Coran's POV. I'm trying really hard to put a bit of the character's personnality in the text, and Coran's was really hard. 
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy reading this chapter anyway! 
> 
> Please, leave kudos and comments!
> 
> You can also follow me and send me messages on tumblr :)
> 
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/prettygoo-d
> 
> Thanks!!

“Quickly, put him on the table,” Coran instructed to Keith who was carrying Lance bridal style. 

The young half-Galra seemed distraught and Coran understood why. The poor boy had the limp body of his loyal partner in his hands. But it wasn’t only that, it was also the body of the one he had feelings for. Both boys were really slow to figure out their obvious feelings for one another, and now that they were just starting to do so, this terrible event had disrupted their progressive romance. 

Coran was quickly preparing the instruments that he would need to take care of Lance before putting him in a healing pod. The injury on his side would leave a mark, even with his time in a healing pod. Lance’s eyes were slightly opened, but he was still limp and unresponsive. That scared Coran at first, he really believed for an instant that Keith was carrying the corpse of the blue paladin. Fortunately, that was not the case... 

“Keith, help me take off his uniform. We must change him into the healing pod’s suit. The others, I ask that you leave the room,” Coran told them whole trying to act fast, seeing as Lance had already lose a lot of blood for his species. 

Coran didn’t know much about the bodily capacities of Earthlings, but he deduced that the amount of blood they could lose before it became really dangerous to their survival wasn’t much different from Alteans. If that was really the case, then Lance needed to be put into a healing pod immediately. 

Keith looked at Coran hesitantly, before resolving to help him. Coran took a light to Lance’s blue eyes. One iris was bigger than the other, this meant the poor boy certainly had a concussion. He also didn’t react normally to the attack of brightness to his eyes. However, Coran knew that it wasn’t due to the blood loss or the concussion, but to what horrid magic trick the Rebels did to him. Coran was saddened by this grim observation. 

Keith was moving efficiently despite his badly trembling hands. Coran quickly checked the other vitals. They seemed to be worrisome, he was obviously in really bad shape, but he would live, and that was what mattered most for now. Once he was done with the fast medical examination, Coran helped Keith dress Lance in the healing pod’s suit.

“Now, carry him carefully to the pod,” Coran ordered him, walking to one of the pod's pad to activate the needed machine. 

Keith was silent, executing Coran’s demands without a word. Coran tapped on the surface of pad. A healing pod emerged from the floor and positioned itself horizontally. It would be easier to put Lance in this way. Keith promptly did so. He delicately caressed Lance’s cheek with a softness Coran didn’t know the red paladin could express. The pod closed after that, Lance shut his eyes and the healing process started. The pod positioned itself vertically. 

Coran exhaled deeply. He felt like he had been holding his breath all this time. Lance would be alright. Coran turned to Keith who was unmoving by his side, fixing the healing pod intently. He couldn’t overlook the distress his comrade was in. He put his hands on Keith’s shoulders, forcing he half-Galra to look at him. Coran saw the panic growing in Keith's eyes by the tick. He was getting back to reality and it meant that all the emotions and stress he was experiencing since all this started would come crashing in the poor teenager’s mind and body. 

“He’ll make it, Keith. His condition is stable,” he slowly told the young paladin.

“Coran, I…” Keith started, voice wavering.

Tears formed in his eyes and he seemed to have difficulty breathing. 

“Calm down Keith, please breath with me… Inhale… exhale,” Coran directed him. 

Keith followed his instructions. The poor youngling was hurting. He didn’t know how to process all his feelings. So much happened in a day, too much for him to handle easily. After a good dobash or two, Keith’s oncoming panic attack was prevented and he swallowed back his tears. 

“It’s alright to cry if you need to, Keith. You’re not an Oilukdon from the Dalterion Belt, who doesn’t have lacrimal glands. Crying, for Humans, and Galras, is a normal physical and emotional reaction,” Coran explained. 

“I know. I just don’t want to right now. I have to stay strong for the team, and for Lance,” Keith told him, turning back to Lance, touching the glass separating the both of them with the tip of his fingers. “I promised I would save him, that’s what I’ll do.” 

“Let me correct you… That's what WE'll do,” Coran said, making sure the half-Galra felt supported and remembered that the rest of the team had the same goal. 

Keith gave him a small smile. “Thank you, Coran.”

“Anytime, Number Four. Now let’s get back to the team. We have to inform them of Lance’s stable condition,” Coran said exiting the room. 

Keith looked at Lance’s pod one last time and followed him. Coran met the others outside the infirmary. They were impatiently waiting for an update regarding Lance. They looked deeply anxious. 

“He’s in no danger for now. His condition is stable, his wounds will heal and he’ll surely make it out of the pod without any physical damage, if only a battle scar on his side,” Coran reassured them. 

Hunk exhaled loudly, tension finally leaving his body. They all relaxed a bit. 

“We need to know what they did to him and Naïm,” Keith said, joining them. 

“I have an hypothesis,” Pidge informed them. “The Neoryan’s high priests are known for their impressive magical abilities. We all agree that what Lishia did to Lance was clearly magic. I think they might have extracted Lance’s soul, or quintessence, because it’s essentially the same thing, from his body and condensed it into the stone they showed us at the end of the call.”

“That’s a good theory, Number Five. However, if Lance’s quintessence would have been extracted from his body, he would have died. A body can’t live without quintessence,” he explained. 

“Maybe they didn’t extract all his soul?” Hunk suggested. 

“That would make sense. Like for Naïm, they must have left Lance enough quintessence for his body to sustain itself and stay alive for a while,” Allura deduced. 

“So, if we get the stone back, we can save Lance,” Keith concluded. 

They all shared a look of determination and small hope. They weren’t too late. 

They decided that Pidge and Hunk would go to the Neoryans’ underground laboratory to help create counter devices in preparation for the battle to come against the Rebels. Allura and Keith would work with Kilishka and the other officials to know more about the Neoryans’ abilities and how to fight the Rebels. This way, they would know a bit about who they were up against. The Neoryans officials were difficult to convince, but their leader was trusting team Voltron completely, and that worked well in their favour. That was to be expected, because Kilishka knew that by trying to get Lance’s soul back, they could get their child’s back too before they lost him for good. 

Coran attended to the Castle’s needs and Lance’s condition. He made the paladins lunches, even if they preferred the Neoryans’ sandwich they were given. He didn’t take offence… No, he did, but it didn’t matter really right now. What was extremely concerning were Lance’s vitals. The numbers he got from the pod's constant analisys of his condition showed that it was worsening way more quickly than Naïm’s. He had recieved Naïm's analysis hystory of the past quintents from Kilishka to determine the approximate time they had to plan their attack and take action. 

They didn’t have much time to work with, less than a week. He hesitated before telling the paladins. After the last two days of hard work, they all met on the bridge. Each small team informed the others of the advances that were made on their sides. Everyone was doing well. They might be able to get Lance and Naïm’s quintessence back and save them in time at this rate. But…

“I’m happy to hear about all your incredible progress, but I unfortunately have bad news to share with you,” Coran started putting two graphics on display on the biggest screen of the bridge. “The graphic on the right is Naïm’s decreasing condition. The one on the left… is Lance’s,” he informed them sadly. 

“The inclination of the left one his way more drastic,” Pidge pointed out in a small voice. 

“Yes. I thought that he would have at least a couple more quintents than Naïm’s, because he was attacked after Kilishka's child. I presumed that if something goes awry when we attacke the Rebels the first time we could still try to save Lance again later, but it appears that he has as much time left has Kilishka’s child, which is less than a week,” Coran explained. 

There was silence on the bridge for a couple of ticks, but then Keith moved and put a supportive hand on Coran’s shoulder. 

“It’s alright, Coran, we won’t need a second try. We’ll attack the Rebels once and save him for sure,” Keith said firmly.

“Yeah, I mean extra time is always nice, but I never even thought we were supposed to have some, so…” Hunk added.

“As Hunk said, we already intended to strike them with all we have when we’ll attack them and retrieve Lance at that moment,” Allura said. 

Coran was happy that they didn’t let this information affect them too much. It even served to reiterate their will to win this battle quickly and give their all to save their friend. 

After their meeting, they all went to their rooms to sleep. Even in this situation, they needed to rest. Coran went to have a last check on Lance and found Allura there. He expected maybe Keith to be there, but Allura was a surprise. 

“Hi, Princess,” he greeted her. “May I ask why you are here and not in your bed?” 

“Oh, Coran, I needed to see him. I... I feel like I’m responsible for Lance’s condition,” she admitted, her gaze dropping to the ground before going up again to look at Lance. 

He saw pain in her eyes. The young woman had lost so much already, but situations like this were to be expected during war. 

“If I had listened to him, if hadn’t convinced them that everything would go well, maybe…”

“You can’t blame yourself for that, Princess, it’s not your fault, it’s those filthy Rebels’ fault,” He said coming to her side and putting a comforting hand on her back. 

“I know, but I wish we could have prevented this from happening. I may not have verbalized it before, but Lance brings something special to this team. He put in so much effort to be a good right hand for Voltron. We need him back,” she said, sharing her thoughts with Coran. 

“Yes, I believe the whole team agree on that too and, like you all said earlier, we won’t fail to save him, that’s a certainty,” Coran told her reassuringly. 

“Thanks, Coran, for listening to me, and for everything you do for this team too. I don’t know what I would do without you,” she said with a grateful smile.

They shared a hug. Coran was happy to help, even if he wasn’t a paladin. He did the best he could for this incredible team. They were like family to him, a particularly uncommon one, but still he cared for every one of them deeply. 

“Anytime, Princess. Now, go get some sleep, you need to be in top shape for the quintents to come,” he encouraged her. 

She left the room with a thankful smile. Coran stayed alone to oversee for Lance’s care one last time before also going to bed. He made sure everything was in order. The situation was not much positive, but they would get there when they would have taken Lance’s soul stone back. ‘Soul stone’… That sounded good, he would reuse it in the future. Lance would certainly have added something funny like ‘space’ to it. He did that often… 

“Well, don’t fret Lance, your situation is a little dire right now, but we will fix it soon! You can count on us. Can’t wait to have you back, my boy,” he said. 

Talking to the young unconscious man in the pod was his way to somehow cope with not having the lively boy around. He left the infirmary and went to his room. Once the door behind him was shut, for the first time that quintent, he let worry show on his expression. 

 

He was worried for all the paladins, knowing how it would be hard to get Lance back but harder to lose him. They were doing all they could and he was trying his best too, but now that he was alone he couldn’t ignore the sadness he felt himself. Allura had lost a lot, but him too and he couldn’t deny his untold anguish anymore. He repeated words of assurance to himself until he finally fell in a desired slumber.

They wouldn’t fail. 

They would succeed. 

They would save him. 

They would make it in time.


	8. Chapter 8 - Preparation for War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi eveyone! 
> 
> This chapter is from Allura's POV. 
> 
> Expect the chapters following this one to hurt, I have a lot planned. 
> 
> Unfortunately, I'm starting my finals this week, so I won't have much free time. I'm really excited to write the rest of the story, so I might be able to post 1 or 2 chapters this week anyway, but I don't know yet. 
> 
> I might also do 2 different endings.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you'll like this chapter! 
> 
> Don't forget to leave kudos and comments, it's alway appreciated!
> 
> Thanks!!

Allura didn’t sleep well the night before, she woke up every two vargas, her concerns causing her to be too anxious to sleep more at a time. She wasn’t hungry when she woke up but went to the dining room anyway. Hunk had made an incredible feast, it was his way to cope with all that was happening. There would be so many leftovers, the only one to seem to be hungry was Coran. Hunk was still eating the most, but not as much as usual. Pidge already rarely ate breakfast and Keith wasn’t even in the dining room. He was probably on the training deck or in the infirmary, by Lance’s pod. She would bring him something to eat before they got back to the Neoryans. Their progress was impressive and only a day and a half had passed. What saddened her was that she knew she was taking part in a civil war. She was pretty much compelled to help Kilishka and their people though, because they were forcefully involved in their conflict, the Rebels having hurt Lance and taken his soul. Because of them, their dear blue paladin was dying.

 

For the past months, she had been trying to lessen her constant need for revenge, without altering her will to fight, but it wasn’t always easy to differentiate the two motives when she fought against their main enemy, the Galras. Now they had a new opponent and she profoundly loathed them for what they did to her teammate. She wanted them to make amend, to pay for the torture they put them all through, especially Lance. As she had said to Coran, Lance was really important to them. Sometimes, she knew he doubted that, but he truly belonged in their little strangely constituted family. He was an integral part of their team, and he proved that many times before by giving his all to save the universe, by working hard for the sake of the team, especially since he became the pilot of the red lion, by encouraging the other paladins when they felt at a loss, and also by even putting the lives of the others before his own. When Allura first met him, what she thought of him, and the other paladins as well, wasn’t really positive. She remembered how the former paladins were and they didn’t even seem to get close to their level. But they proved her wrong so many times. After so much time with them, she came to believe that their team couldn’t be more perfect. They all brought something unique that made them really strong. Lance wasn’t as intelligent as Pidge and Hunk, and didn’t have Keith and Shiro’s fighting skills, but he was their lively sharpshooter. He made them smile, made them laugh, made them relax… Even if the rest of the team often acted as if it annoyed them. It hadn’t been three quintents, and Allura already missed his humorous remarks. She wasn’t alone to feel this way; the others were tense and anxious as well. The castle seemed silent, but in no way calm. The small moments of hope and happiness were fragile and fugacious. She knew that it was due to the actual unfortunate circumstances, but she was certain that, even in this situation, Lance would have found a way to relieve them of the heaviness that had settled over their minds and bodies. 

 

She didn’t finish all her plate and didn’t speak much during breakfast. Their plan to attack the Rebels was taking form smoothly, but they still didn’t know where they were hidden. They planned on using the blue lion’s sonic cannon to scan the planet and find the Rebels’ possible hideout. She hoped it would work, because otherwise they would have to find another way to locate him. What troubled her the most was that she knew the blue lion could scan places of considerable size, but an entire planet, they never tried it before and she couldn’t remember if, Blaytz, the former blue lion’s pilot, could do it either. Everyone got out the dining room at the same time as her, leaving all the dishes and leftovers on the table to Coran. The Altean man, who was like a second father to her, assured them that he’d gladly take care of it, stating that the rest of the team had more important matters to attend to, which was true. As she was walking to the Bridge, she heard sounds of a conversation. It was a call. Fear took over her body and she ran to the Bridge. Was it the Rebels again?

 

“Kolivan, we need to save him! He is NOT replaceable!” Keith said loudly, hardly containing his anger.

 

Keith was really impulsive, but he was getting better at staying focus and controlling his bad temper. Allura was really proud of him, even if this change in attitude was forced upon him because of Shiro’s disappearance. This was still on their mind, but the actual situation had them concentrate on a more urgent problem. Lance had helped Keith accept his new position as the leader of their team and kept him from being too affected by Shiro’s absence. Now both were gone and Keith seemed to be doing better than she thought he would, proving that he really matured since becoming the pilot of the black lion. 

 

“Keith, the Blade of Marmora doesn’t get involved in other matters than the ones related to the Galras,” Kolivan answered, as serious as ever. “Unlike what you think, paladins can be replaced, as you did when you took over the former paladin’s roles and when the black lion chose you as the new leader of your team.”

 

Keith was burning with rage. Allura decided to intervene in their conversation at that moment.

 

“Actually, the blue paladin’s… loss would affect Voltron, and the fight against the Galra Empire, way more than you might think. The red lion is the most difficult lion to pilot because of its speed and temper. Finding a new paladin that would fit well with the team’s dynamic and be able to fly the Red lion efficiently could take us months.” She explained, surprising both Keith and Kolivan with her intrusion in their conversation. “That being said, I think you can see how that would be an issue for you as much as for us. We would accept any help you can provide us.”

 

Kolivan seemed thoughtful for a moment, clearly taking what Allura just said into account in making a decision. She hoped it would help their cause. They needed all the help they could get, and the Blade of Marmora's support would appease everyone's mind a bit, especially Keith's. 

 

“We’ll send a team to your location,” Kolivan finally agreed.

 

“We thank you, Kolivan,” Allura said, grateful. 

 

The call ended as abruptly as usual with the Blade of Marmora. They really didn’t mind about formalities.  

 

“Thank you, Allura,” Keith said with a small appreciative smile. He seemed calmer.

 

“You did well to call the Blade of Marmora, they could be of great help,” Allura told him. “We were so tied up with working with the Neoryans that we didn’t even contact them.”

 

“Yeah, I know. I thought I could convince them by myself, because I’m half-Galra and I’m the leader of Voltron now, but it didn’t work well. I suppose that I’m a little on edge right now, so arguments don’t come to my mind easily,” he explained, looking disappointed in himself.

 

“Don’t beat yourself up for such diplomatic responsibilities, Keith. You already have enough on your mind, and one can only deal with a certain amount of stress,” she said.

 

“You’re right, and don’t beat yourself up either for things you shouldn’t. I heard you talk to Coran yesterday. We all agreed to go to Neorya, Lance too,” he explained when she looked at him with a quizzical expression.

 

She smiled and turned to leave the Bridge.

 

“Understood. Come, we must meet with the Neoryans soon,” she said, leaving the Bridge. When she looked back, she saw Keith following her.

 

Allura had never experienced romantic love. Maybe she had begun to feel something for Shiro at some point, when she allowed herself to think about something other than war. She considered herself already dangerously close to the paladins, but got somehow attracted to the idea of opening her heart to Shiro, believing that she was maybe ready to get even closer to another person than she was to anyone now, even Coran. But he disappeared and she shut her emotions off automatically. She might have been ready to let love get a hold of her heart, but she still couldn’t handle feeling any more pain for a loved one. That is how she could relate to Keith in this moment. She had lost people she deeply cared about, and she knew how devastating it could be. Keith lost the person who was like a brother to him, and now the boy he had obvious feelings for was dying. It was all in the span of about two months. At least, they still had time and both cases were still not hopeless.

 

—

 

[A varga later]

 

“Activating sonar canon!” Allura announced.

 

The blue lion roared approvingly and said device magically appeared on its back. Everyone was monitoring her, the Paladins, Coran and the Neoryans. The machine fired its pulses at the planet. Allura was at a good enough distance in space that it covered all of it. She waited for the results a few dobashes, unconsciously holding her breath. It had to work…

 

“Did it work?” Hunk asked, as impatient as her.

 

Then, to her relief, she received the results!

 

“It worked! The blue lion created a complete map of the underground network of Neorya!” she informed everyone happily.  

 

“Great, Princess!” Coran congratulated her.

 

“Yeah, now we can move further with the plan,” Pidge said.

 

“We can find the Rebels’ location and Lance’s soul stone,” Keith said, determination in his voice.

 

She got back to the surface of the planet and shared the map with everyone. The Neoryans’ officials easily identified the place where the Rebels were surely hiding. It was a small isolated network of tunnels a couple of kilometres away from the main one where Kilishka’s people lived. It was complex, but they were also able to pinpoint the essential rooms and their possible purpose, thanks to the Neoryans' officials help. They would be able to send teams to the places most likely to be crucial to their success in retrieving Lance's and Naïm's soul stone. Team Voltron and Kilishka, who, against everyone’s better judgment, insisted on joining them, were to go to the room where Lishia and the soul stones were expected to be. They would have to battle the second high priest. There were two things that were tricky regarding their plan: they didn’t know what exact weapons the Rebels possessed and they didn’t know how to win against Lishia’s magic powers. The Neoryans didn’t know how they used them, even Sissian had no idea how their twin’s powers could be countered. Allura and Keith visited Sissian to see if they could help them with this problem. The high priest also seemed really thoughtful after they learned of the event that occured. They saw what happened and the call in their visitors' memories and Sissian seemed pretty affected afterwards.

 

“I knew I had a twin who was captured when we were still babies, but I didn’t know that they had such powers. They are not like mines… I’m sorry, but I can’t help you,” they admitted.

 

“Don’t be, Sissian, we will find a way. We believe that Lishia might need a unmoving target to act and that they can’t do anything else while extracting the soul of someone’s body. This means that they can’t protect themselves either. We plan on reaching Lishia as a group so they will have no choice but to surrender,” Allura assured them.

 

“It's a good plan. But, please, don’t be too harsh on Lishia, they were manipulated and didn’t know better. I can feel both your hate and pain, but I know you can also be a little compassionate too,” Sissian requested.

 

Allura wanted to say that she would be, but she couldn’t lie to Sissian, either because they would obviously know or because she wanted to be honest with the good-hearted high priest and with herself. Against all her beliefs, she just couldn't imagine being forgiving towards Lishia.

 

“We’ll try our best,” Keith said to Allura’s surprise.

 

“Thank you, I know how hard it is for you, Keith. I also wished you would have realized your feelings for Lance in better circumstances. I saw everything that was on your mind and on his when we met the first time. Really beautiful, but also frustrating. I truly hope you’ll be able to save him and have the happy love story you both deserve,” Sissian said.

 

“W-wait, on his mind? He also…” Keith trailed off.

 

“Let me give you a little hint. He left you a message before being taken,” Sissian added with a complicit wink.

 

Keith’s eyes became so bright for an instant that Allura couldn’t help but smile, though a little sadly. He thanked Sissian and got to his feet. The Neoryan priest told him to go, knowing that he needed to make sense of what they had just told him. Keith left, but Allura stayed behind a bit.

 

“He’s struggling a lot,” Sissian pointed out. “He’s trying so hard to do the right thing, be a good leader, and hide his suffering. But you know that already.”

 

“You also seem to be hiding some things,” Allura said tentatively. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’d like to know what's bothering you so much about your twin’s power.”

 

Sissian got up, paced a bit around the room, visibly putting some order to their thoughts and formulating a clear answer.

 

“I think… Lishia’s really the true high priest. My powers are impressive, but theirs resemble those of a true high priest. The former high priest could do the same as Lishia, create these soul stones, that’s how we could easily pass down the incredible knowledge of the Neoryan scientists and former high priests, but I can’t do that. I tried before. I am… thinking about how this information affects me. I feel like I should maybe give up my title,” Sissian admitted.

 

They didn’t seem sad, just a bit conflicted. Allura understood why Sissian opened up to her. They both had important roles giving to them. They wanted to know her opinion as a princess and as an important actor in the fight against an entire galactic empire.  

 

“May I give you a small advice?” Allura asked. Sissian nodded in answer.

 

“Do what you think is best for both you and your people. If they need you to stay their high priest and if you like being one, then keep it this way. And if you really think it would be better to tell them the truth and give up your title, then do it. Please, just don’t take any reckless decision. Your people need you, but don't forget yourself in your duties,” Allura explained softly.

 

Sissian smiled at her, visibly happy that Allura, even if they didn’t know each other for long, was sincerely trying to help them.

 

"I'm still conflicted, but I'll figure it out. Thanks," Sissian said.

 

"You're welcome. Now, I'm sorry, but I must leave. I hope we can talk later over a dinner or something, when all this will be done," Allura said.

 

"I'd like that," Sissian said with an excited smile. "Take care, Princess Allura."

 

"You too, Sissian" she answered and, then, left the room.

 

Allura joined the Kilishka's officials and continued their planning. A couple vargas later, they recieved notification that Pidge and Hunk had came up with a device that would render the quintessence-freezing weapon helpless. That was what they needed to make their move. They would do it the next quintent. Coran informed them that the Blade of Marmora’s team would be there in the morning, which was perfect to finalize their plan and attack during the night when they would likely be even more taken by surprise. Keith came back to Allura and the Neoryans' officials at some point and was debriefed by one of them. Allura noticed his red-rimed eyes. She didn't mention it though. 

 

Things were going well, a little too well to Allura’s opinion, but she didn’t mind it for now. The Rebels couldn’t know they were coming, their Neoryan enemies and team Voltron weren’t supposed to know where they were hidden, but thanks to the blue lion that wasn’t an issue anymore.

 

The team was less tense when they all met on the bridge that night. They were all motivated and ready to get Lance back.

 

The plan was completed and everyone was ready to act.

 

The time had finally come to save Lance and Naïm.

 

They would succeed before it was too late.


	9. Chapter 9 - Tired and Emotional

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi! 
> 
> I sacrificed a little bit of sleep to write this chapter (yeah, I just can't stop writing this story).
> 
> The first part is from Keith's POV and the second is from Hunk's POV. 
> 
> The final battle is approaching! 
> 
> The next chapter will surely be from Keith's POV too. 
> 
> Don't forget to leave kudos and comments!
> 
> Thanks!!

“Guys, I love you all. And Keith… I’ll miss training with you. OK, truth is, I’ll miss you, a lot. I wished I could’ve seen my family one more time…”

 

Click.

 

Keith had played at least ten times already. He couldn’t get enough of this recording. He was glad that Sissian had given him the hint to find this, but every time he listened to it, his heart seemed to break a little more. Why did love hurt him that much? It was so irritating, this torturing feeling twisting his stomach and this sharp pain in his chest. Still, he didn’t want it to stop. He wanted to know when it would turn into butterflies and soft warmth. He knew it could get there if… if Lance was there.

 

“Guys, I love you all. And Keith… I’ll miss training with you. OK, truth is, I’ll miss you, a lot. I wished I could’ve seen my family one more time…”

 

Click.

 

Only a few hours left until he got him back. He didn’t sleep long the night before. Maybe 4 or 5 hours or so. He knew it wasn’t enough, but still got up, telling himself that he would take a nap later. He unconsciously went to Lance’s room. He didn’t know what he expected to find there, but he hoped what happened was all a bad dream, that he would enter the room and find the other boy sleeping in his bed. But the bed was empty. Keith entered the clean space. Lance’s room, compared to his own, was personalized with many souvenirs from planets they had freed from the Galras and other places they had visited across the universe. Keith went for Lance’s desk. There was a small picture of his family that had been folded. It was surely in his wallet before. It must also have been the last thing he possessed to remember what his family looked like. Lance had once talked to him about them.

 

—

 

[3 weeks ago]

 

_Keith and Lance had just finished their training session. They were sitting on the ground side by side, back pressed against the wall, drinking some space juice, as Lance called it._

_“These look like the ones kids drink on Earth, but they don’t taste the same at all. I don’t know what these even taste like honestly, but they're not bad. Oh, man I miss Earth,” Lance said, talkative, as usual._

_“I don’t miss Earth. I prefer space,” Keith said._

_“Obviously, you’re an alien,” Lance said. “No, what I really miss about Earth is my family,” Lance admitted to Keith's surprise._

_They had been getting close, but every time Lance's confided in him he felt like it was uncharacteristic and special, and it made him somewhat happy. Keith looked at him, waiting for him to continue. When Lance saw the curiousness in his teammate’s eyes, he straightened up and got really excited._

_“I never really told you anything about them, right? Well, I was the youngest of my family, so I was always bullied by the others, but I really loved them. I always got away with my mischiefs, because I blamed it on my three older siblings all the time. I suppose that’s why I was bullied. But, anyway, we were all pretty close. My oldest brother taught me how to swim. We lived near the beach and we spent our days there every summer. Don’t tell him I said that, but he was super cool. My parents were really proud of him because he got into medical school. He married this woman who looked so much different than him. She had this severe expression most of the time. It was funny, because it always looked like she was angry, but my brother was always able to make her smile. As for my sister, she was different. She was popular and had a really bad attitude. She was definitely a challenge for my parents, because they didn’t know how to deal with her, but it was just puberty, and she still cared about us. She was a pretty good artist though, both on the scene and in a studio. And there was my other brother. He was sportive and tall. He was the only one to have inherited my mother’s whiter skin tone. His hair was also the lightest of the family. I usually hung out with him the most, because we were so close in age," Lance said with enthusiasm. Keith could understand why he missed them. They looked like a really awesome family. Lance's expression softened, continuing his babbling with less cheerfully._ _"I tried to find my place amongst them, like what kind of sibling I was, what defined me and made me special. That’s when I found a passion for space and adventure and decided to enroll in the Garrison. I never thought I’d end up so far from my family…” Lance trailed off, longing visible in his eyes and smile._

_Keith really wanted to make the sadness and homesickness that Lance felt go away._

_“They look nice, your family,” he said._

_Lance looked up to Keith, happy that he thought positively of them._

_“Yeah, they are. What about yours?” Lance asked._

_“Oh, hum, my dad left when I was like ten, so I was raised as an orphan by foster families half of my life. And you know about my mother. So, yeah, not even close to yours,” Keith admitted._

_“Dude, that’s super depressing. When we go back to Earth, I’ll introduce you to my family, they’ll love you, I’m sure of that,” Lance said._

_“Thanks, Lance, I’d really like that,” Keith replied, smiling._

_Lance stood up and hold out his hand to Keith, who didn’t know how to react at first. He finally took it and Lance helped him stand up as well._

_“I’ll make you taste my mother’s super delicious garlic knot and we’ll go to the beach,” Lance continued, happily imagining how they would spend their day with his family on Earth. “You know how to swim, right?”_

_Lance started walking towards the exit of the training deck, and Keith followed, because their training was done but also because he wanted to know what other things Lance planned to do with him on this imaginary day._

_“Yes, but I never swam in the sea,” Keith answered._

_“So, you’ll have your first time with me!” Lance said joyfully, turning to Keith with a wide smile._

_Keith couldn’t help blushing at Lance’s formulation. Lance didn’t notice the redness on his cheeks, but realized that what he said sounded weird, so he awkwardly tried to clarify what he meant._

_“I mean, your first time SWIMMING IN THE SEA with me... Anyway, you already knew what I meant,” Lance said, looking annoyed by his own clumsiness._

_Keith laughed._

—

 

Keith had found Lance’s jacket in his room, on his bed, and decided to try it on. It was a little big for him, but it smelled like Lance. For a moment, Keith thought that it was maybe weird for him to be wearing his teammate’s jacket and be in his room without his authorization, but he had nothing to hide anymore. Everyone on the team knew what Keith felt for the tall Cuban boy now.

 

After that, he took Lance’s helmet, that had stayed in his owner's room since he was captured by the Rebels, and went to the infirmary. Keith looked at Lance’s pod for a while before sitting beside it and putting Lance’s helmet on his head, wanting to hear the message the Cuban left them. That’s how he ended up there in the early hours of the day, eyelids heavy as he listened at the message on repeat.

 

When he heard it for the first time, he was alone in Lance’s room, where he found his helmet. He had listened to it intently and, since he was alone, he allowed himself to let all the emotions he had been keeping inside him overflow. He cried for a long time, maybe more than a varga, but he felt better after, more focused, more determined.

 

When he got back to Allura and the Neoryans after that, they had already prepared a plan and had decided to attack the next quintent. He was really glad to hear this. He couldn’t wait to finally do something that seemed more concrete to save Lance. Planning wasn’t his forte. He was usually a hothead who attacked before thinking, but he was forced to wait and make strategic analysis with Allura. He repeated to himself that he couldn’t do anything anyway and getting angry with how useless he felt wouldn’t lead him anywhere near saving Lance. With the boy in mind, he kept trying to help with the planning and all.

 

Now, he was slumped against Lance’s pod, wearing the boy’s jacket and listening to his voice on repeat. It felt good, good to have a little bit of him in this moment of stress and fear.

 

 “I will bring you back home, no matter what, I promised,” Keith said.  

 

Keith wasn’t good at keeping promises. He had promised Lance that he would make sure they were all safe, but he had failed. The last one he made was when Lance was captured. He had promised to save him, and he still intended on doing just that, but he knew it was a risky promise. Now this one…

 

“…Pinky promise this time,” Keith added, sleepily.

 

Keith’s eyes closed and he fell asleep.

 

 

—

 

 

[4 Weeks ago]

_They were on a mission on a planet with a huge jungle kind of forest. They were looking for some weird plant Coran had asked them to find. The Altean man needed it to make medicine or something. They had split up, but Keith stumbled upon Lance who acted strange, hiding one of his hand behind his back. He looked really nervous and Keith really wanted to know why. However, the blue paladin was really stubborn._

_“You’ll make fun of me!” Lance complained._

_“Come on, Lance, I promise I won’t laugh,” Keith said, trying unsuccessfully to see what Lance was hiding behind his back._

_“I don’t believe you!” Lance said, visibly panicking. “Pinky swear you won’t laugh!”_

_“What? For real?” Keith replied with a judging look._

_“Yes, for real!” Lance insisted, showing his little finger to Keith._

_After a moment of hesitation, and a little annoyed, Keith entwined their little fingers._

_“Fine. Pinky swear. Now, show me what this is all about,” Keith said._

_Lance still hesitated, but finally brought his other hand in front of him, showing Keith the humongous appendage. Keith had to cover his mouth not to laugh, hardly containing it with tears in his eyes. If he wanted Lance to truly believe him in the future, he had to do this much. It was really hard. Lance’s hand was huge. It was as if it had been pumped up like a balloon. It was still moving though, so it was a good sign._

_“It’s not funny! What if my hand stays this way?” Lance said, distressed._

_“Calm down, Lance.  What happened?” Keith asked._

_“I found the stupid plant Coran asked us to get, but I didn’t look before grabbing it, and there was a strange bug that stung me. Then, my hand just started getting bigger,” he said._

_“It looks like Mickey Moose’s,” Keith said, hardly containing a laugh._

_“Keith!” Lance said with a complaining tone. “I’m really panicking there! What if it’s not a normal reaction! Maybe I’ll die!”_

_“Coran? Lance got bit by a bug and his hand is like super big now. Should we be worried?” Keith asked over the coms._

_“Oh, that must have been a Spiked Bugliant, they cause that type of reaction to Alteans too. Send him back to the castle, I have an antidote that should supress the swelling,” Coran replied reassuringly._

_“See, nothing to worry about,” Keith said to Lance. “Do you think you can make it to your lion by yourself without getting bitten by another alien bug?” Keith asked teasingly._

_“Ha ha. Really funny, Keith,” Lance said, turning his back to him to walk towards his lion._

_“But seriously, thanks for keeping your pinky promise,” Lance added._

 

 

—

 

 

“Pidge? Tell me that you slept a little at least,” Hunk said with a yawn.

 

He just entered the dining room with a big bowl of leftovers that tasted like maple oatmeal, but had an interesting squishy texture and a flashy orange colour. Pidge was tapping rapidly on her laptop’s keypad.

 

“I slept, like about an hour I think. I’ll take a nap later,” she said.

 

“Just make sure you eat something and you have enough energy to fight against the Rebels. I mean, we’re gonna fight some magical being that transform people’s soul into rocks, so, in your place, I would make sure to be awake.”

 

“Eat, sleep. Understood,” she answered simply.

 

Hunk sighted and walked up to where her computer was plugged to the wall. Unfortunately, Pidge’s own-made computer didn’t have a battery efficient enough to sustain itself without being plugged to a source of energy.

 

“Save your stuff,” he said lazily.  

 

“You wouldn’t dare?” she asked, looking at him defiantly.

 

“5… 4…. 3…”

 

“Hunk! It’s not funny,” she said angrily while saving all her work, not risking losing it all.

 

Once the count down was done, he looked at her to make sure she was done saving her work. She was just getting up from her seat, furious. He unplugged her computer. She started yelling at him, harsh words that showed her lack of sleep and her edginess. Keith was the edgiest one, but now Pidge was surpassing his current level. New record, yeah…

 

Hunk didn’t take it personally, didn’t even really listen to her. She knew that even if she plugged her computer back, Hunk would unplug it, so there was no going around. And he saw in her eyes that she was aware that he didn’t do it to be mean, but to ensure that she still took care of herself even with the current circumstances.

 

“ …working on important stuff, asshole! Remember, Lance’s life depends on it! Why did you do that? Why… why did you…”

 

Suddenly, her tone changed, becoming smaller and shakier. Tears appeared in her eyes, and her expression changed from one of anger to one of sadness. And she hugged Hunk who hugged her back.

 

“I… I’m sorry,” she said, realizing that she had let her anger speak for her. He knew that she didn’t mean to get mad at him this way.

 

“It’s OK, Pidge, I know you’re hungry, tired and worried for Lance. Come on, eat a little, take a nap and get back to work after that,” he encouraged her.

 

“Thanks, Hunk,” she said, voice still wavering.

 

“Here, take my plate, I’ll eat the rest,” he said.

 

Hunk rarely shared his food, so Pidge just couldn’t refuse. It was his way to show her that he was worried for her.

 

“Guess who I saw sleeping by Lance’s pod earlier?” he said to Pidge with a knowing smile, trying to start a conversation and change the mood.

 

“Keith? That’s him for sure,” she answered, already appearing to return to her normal self.

 

“Yeah, but he was wearing Lance’s jacket AND helmet,” he added.

 

Pidge smiled at that, but it fell quickly.

 

“How do you think they’ll reunite? Like awkwardly, or romantically, like in the movies? Do you wanna bet?” Hunk asked, knowing he’d be lifting her spirit with that.

 

Pidge looked at him with competitiveness in her eyes. Pidge just couldn’t resist a bet. 

 

“I bet 5 GAC that it’ll be super awkward!” she said excitedly.

 

“OK, then I bet that it’ll be romantic and emotional.” Hunk said.

 

Pidge smiled at that and took a few more bites of her plate before leaving the dining room to take a needed nap. When Hunk passed by the infirmary later, he saw her sleeping beside Keith, both pressed against Lance’s pod. He got a big blanket and put it over them before joining Allura and Coran on the bridge to help them with the preparations for the battle to come.

 

When he arrived there, the Blade of Marmora’s team was just entering Neorya’s atmosphere.

 

There wasn’t much time left until their confrontation with the Rebels.

 

He really started to feel nervous, now. He instinctually passed a hand over his stomach. He wasn’t as easily nauseous as before, but still…

 

“Are you alright, Hunk? Where are the others?” Allura asked him.

 

“Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little nervous, no biggy. Pidge and Keith are sleeping in the infirmary, beside Lance’s pod, it’s super cute. Anyway, they didn’t sleep well since Lance had been captured, so...” Hunk started.

 

“We should let them have their sleep. I’ll wake them up for the big meeting before the battle,” Coran assured them.

 

“Thanks, Coran. Just make sure they are not late,” Allura added.

 

“You can count on me, Princess,” Coran answered.

 

“Not late" repeated in his head. It’s not like they would sleep until then, there was still a couple vargas before the big meeting, but still these words had some impact in Hunk’s mind. He had associated them to Lance’s condition so far. Because what scared them the most was that they might not be able to save him in time. Even if Coran had assured them that Lance’s condition was decreasing but not extremely concerning for now, and they all agreed that they were going for a one-time battle to save their friend, it still worried him.

 

They had a strict timeframe to work with that left no room for errors.

 

Hunk hoped they wouldn’t need more time.


	10. Chapter 10 - Broken Soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi dear readers! 
> 
> Chapter 10 is from Keith's POV and it's pretty sad, I felt really emotional writing this. 
> 
> I hope you'll like it! 
> 
> Don't forget to leave kudos and comments!
> 
> Thanks!!

Keith woke up to Lance’s voice… cut off by Pidge’s loud snoring. He opened his eyes, annoyed by the unwelcome sound, but then realized that he had fallen asleep in the infirmary, with Lance’s jacket and helmet on. He removed the helmet and looked at Pidge. Even if her snoring was noisy, he was glad to see that she took the time to take a nap. In time of stress, she usually didn’t sleep much, so she certainly needed it. He gently pushed her a little to the side so he could get up and leave the infirmary without waking her up. She didn’t react to the movement at all. He made sure to replace the blanket so that it covered her.

 

Keith looked at Lance who seemed peaceful in the healing pod. He exhaled deeply and left the infirmary to get Lance’s stuff back to his room and then went to his own room to take a quick shower and change into his paladin’s gear. Once it was done, he went to the bridge where he found Coran.

 

“Hi, Number Four! I hope you slept well, we have a busy day ahead of us,” Coran said.

 

“Hi, Coran. Are Allura and Hunk already with the Neoryans?” Keith asked.

 

“Yes, they are, and the team sent by the Blade of Marmora arrived about 3 vargas ago,” Coran added.

 

“Thanks, Coran, I’ll join them then,” Keith announced.

 

He left the castle with his lion’s small aircraft and drove to the place he usually went to with Allura. There, he met with the Galras sent by the Blade, Allura and the Neoryan officials. Hunk was still with the scientists, making sure again that the device they created would work.

 

Keith, Allura and the Neoryans’ officials reviewed the plan with the Blades and made sure the last details of their plan were answered. A few vargas later, Pidge, who had been woken up by Coran and had been well debriefed by Allura, joined them with Hunk. The allies and them were finally prepared for the battle. They all met in a big room, people already devised by pre-established teams. It was the big meeting. Keith’s team was at the centre, being the team with the most dangerous task: confronting Lishia and taking back Naïm’s and Lance’s stones.

 

“Thank you everyone for your support and your help. Your participation in this battle will have a great impact on the Neoryans and the universe. We are ready to fight for the safety of our loved ones, we are ready to protect them, and we are ready to prevent our enemies from doing more harm than they already did! Our opponent is not an easy one, but we will succeed!” Allura cheered them with the spirit of resistance she always had, confirming her will to fight and inspiring her followers before the big battle.

 

“Remember your assigned roles and missions, and carry them out effectively! Now, everyone, it’s time to launch the attack!” Kilishka announced.

 

“Yeah!” they all cheered before scattering, getting to their designated positions until their time to move came. Keith, Allura, Pidge, Hunk and Kilishka went to the green lion who was waiting outside the tunnel they were in. There were other ships beside it. Pidge had installed cloaking devices on everyone of them and had shown the pilots how to operate their complex system. The first group to move was the Blades, because they needed to be dropped from a certain height to ensure that they wouldn’t be detected even with their cloaking device activated, and because they had to act stealthily to install Pidge and Hunk’s anti-quintessence-freezing machine near the entrance of the Rebels’ hideout and hack into their spying and security systems.

 

They did it easily, informing the other teams even more quickly than expected that their part of the plan had been carried out. The other teams moved immediately after, activating their cloaking devices and getting to the entrance of their enemy’s hideout.

 

The ships weren’t attacked and no defensive weapons seemed to have been activated when they got to the entrance. They decided to act the most discreetly possible until the real battle started. The Blades hacked the doors so they would open and the teams entered the tunnels. At least, they soon realized that the tunnels were really like what the blue lion had mapped out. The second relief that came was when they met their first opponents. The group they came upon didn’t look like they were expecting them to be there, which meant that the first part of the plan had really worked without them being noticed by the Rebels.

 

Not long after that, an alarm went off in the tunnels. They had been spotted, but it was too late for the Rebels to defend against the intruders.

 

“Team 3’s mission complete,” Keith heard over the coms.

 

“Team 4’s location secured.”

 

“Team 2’s mission underway. The supposed location was inexact, but we found the real one.”

 

“Team 5 still in combat, but slowly getting the upper hand. What’s your status Team 6?”

 

“Team 6 is on its way to the assigned location,” Keith replied.

 

They were running through the tunnels and to Lishia’s supposed location. The few opponents they met were easily defeated. It seemed endless to Keith, but they finally reached the designated place. Keith stopped, against his usual hotheadedness. They all stood to the sides of the door leading to Lishia’s room. Pidge informed the Blades to grant them access to it. The doors opened soon after, and, once they made quickly sure there wasn’t any trap, the team entered the room with their weapons ready. There were only Lishia and their muscular accomplice looking over a map placed on a round table at the centre of the room. They appeared shocked by the unwelcome visitors. Lishia automatically leaped to the side and grabbed a metallic box that was on a desk near them. Keith walked to them, pointing his sword directly at Lishia’s throat. The muscular Neoryan meant to move and attack Keith, but Kilishka and Hunk threatened them with their guns.

 

“Give them back! Now!” Keith yelled, hardly holding himself from simply killing them.

 

Lishia laughed. An obvious bad sign that things wouldn’t go as well at it had been until then.

 

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” they said. “If you kill me, your friend will die too,” they added taking Lance’s beautiful blue soul stone from the box they were holding. They held it up above their head and a little to the side, where Keith couldn’t reach it. He cursed their clear height difference.

 

“What does that mean?” Keith asked, furious and uneasy, eyes always going back to the precious bright stone.

 

“These are a lot more fragile than they look. From this height, even if I only dropped it, it would break. And what do you think happens when a soul is broken?” they asked maliciously.

 

Keith felt fear spread across his body. He was so close, yet still too far.

 

“Not only do their body dies, their soul also dies. There won’t be anything savable at all of him anymore,” Lishia explained. “Get back or you’ll regret it,” they added threateningly, moving to show that they would break Lance’s soul stone if Keith didn’t obey.

 

He didn’t know what to do, but what he just learned affected him. He didn’t know what quintessence and soul became when someone died, but he would save all parts of Lance. There was still hope as long as Lance’s body was holding on to life and as long as Lance’s soul stone was still retrievable. For once in his life, he was aware of the risks and they stopped him from fighting. He could risk his life all he wanted, but he couldn’t risk Lance’s life. He started to back down, still unsure if he was choosing the good option. He felt irritated. This mission was not supposed to go this way.

 

“Keith,” Pidge said simply with determination in her voice.

 

He knew what that meant. She would attack and he had to be ready to react. He didn’t like that she was willing to do something so risky, but he also knew that they had to act while their situation was still somewhat in their advantage. Lance’s time was limited, they couldn’t give up when they were so close. Suddenly, he saw a green glowing string with an arrow shape at its extremity pass by his view and wrap itself around Lishia’s wrist before giving it a tug that took the priest by surprise and made them drop the stone.

 

“Now!” Pidge screamed, which resonated like an echo in Keith’s mind.

 

Everything happened so fast. Keith extended his arm and grabbed the blue stone. He held it like it was a lifeline, which it kind of was. Keith fell to the ground, having had to extend his arm far enough to lose his balance. But he got it, he had Lance’s soul stone in his hand, Lance was saved… Except he was not. Lishia screamed in rage and everything seemed to slow down.

 

“No!” Hunk, Allura and Pidge shouted in unison. Allura and Pidge were already moving to attack, but it was too late.

 

Before Keith could process what was happening, Lishia’s foot came down on the hand that was holding the precious blue soul stone and crushed it. Keith felt pain in his hand, but mostly in his heart as the small thing broke under his finger.

 

“No!” he yelled too, horror taking over his body. Allura swung her pink lasso at Lishia, which wrapped around them, and pulled on them making them fall to the ground. Kilishka caught the box containing a few other stones before it also fell to the ground. Allura made sure Lishia was firmly tied, and Hunk hardly held his position for a couple ticks, before giving in to anger and sadness, and punching the muscular Neoryan with all he had, making him drop to the ground, stunned. Hunk was already crying.

 

“No… No, please no…” Keith murmured, voice shaky as he got on his knees with Lance’s broken soul in his trembling hands. He opened them and saw the small shattered thing still bright, but pulsing, being clearly unstable now.

 

There was silence for a moment, everyone grasping the reality of what just happened. Then, the light from the stone softly escaped it and took the shape of a smiling Lance, wearing his paladin’s uniform. He stood in front of them for a small instant and looked around with a serene expression. After that, his smile got even bigger and he waved at them. He was saying his goodbyes. Everyone on their team had tears in their eyes now, even Kilishka who had never even met the blue paladin in person. Lishia and the still stunned muscular Neoryan didn’t react, also hypnotized by what they were seeing.

 

Then, the luminous appearance of Lance saw Keith’s distressed expression underneath him. Lance got down on one knee and put one of his bright ghostly hands on Keith’s cheek. Keith only felt some kind of warmth, but not the wanted touch of his hand. He looked desperately into Lance’s eyes. He almost couldn’t see them, since the Cuban boy looked like he was made of a translucent blue light that shone brightly in the dark underground room. But he saw his eyes and his small apologetic smile, and the softness they had as Lance looked at him deeply. Nobody was able to react. As if a single word could shatter this sacred moment to pieces. Lance’s lips moved. And even though Lance’s voice couldn’t reach Keith anymore. He knew what he had just said…

 

“I loved you too.”

 

Keith couldn’t hold the tears as they flowed out of his eyes in what seemed like an unending stream, and the wails that escaped his throat. Lance’s bright soul evaporated and disappeared into thin air. He cried without shame, not caring how he looked in front of his friends or his enemies. Nothing mattered to him anymore in that moment. He regretted so many things. He regretted not having noticed him during their time at the Garrison. He regretted not realizing how much the Cuban boy meant to him before. He regretted having failed him. He regretted not being able to save him.

 

He wouldn’t be able to see Lance’s smile anymore. They wouldn’t train together again. His laugh wouldn’t resonate in the castle like it used to. He wouldn’t be able to count on his loyal right hand from now on.

 

They would never be able to enjoy the day they had imagined spending together on Earth with Lance’s family.

 

Keith was hurting like never before. He was suffering and he couldn’t stop the pain from coming. In his life, he had experienced broken bones and cuts and burns… but none had ever hurt him so bad as losing Lance had. He would do anything to make it stop, to have Lance back. He would give up everything, his own life even… But there was nothing to do anymore.

 

Keith had failed again, he hadn’t been able to respect his promise and save the boy he loved.

 

And now, Lance’s time had come to an end.


	11. Chapter 11 - Tears and Sorrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi dear readers! 
> 
> This chapter is kind of a stepping stone for the final chapters.
> 
> It's from Coran and Allura's POVs. 
> 
> It still really sad. 
> 
> Like I said, I'll probably do two endings (one happy and the other sad, I'll probably post the sad ending first because it'll be the shortest). 
> 
> I might do a sequel to one of the endings after that. I have some ideas already!
> 
> Anyway, I hope you'll like this chapter! 
> 
> Please, leave kudos and comments, they are always apreciated. 
> 
> Thanks!!
> 
> Tumblr : https://www.tumblr.com/blog/prettygoo-d

 

[1 Week and a Half Ago]

 

_“Always count on me to provide the little touch needed to an astonishing look!” Coran said cheerfully._

_They were getting prepared for an important dinner with possible allies that really enjoyed banquet. That involved formal wear and Lance was ecstatic. He loved these kinds of things. The team had taken a trip to the mall to get appropriate outfits and were now getting prepared. Having noticed Lance excitement, Coran had decided to share a little of his homemade hair wax with the blue paladin. He usually used it for his magnificient moustache._

_“Thanks, Coran! I look stunning now,” Lance added, like his usual cocky self._

_“I suppose you do,” Coran said, looking at the boy who looked at himself in the mirror. Lance’s smile fell slowly, and Coran felt concern grow in him at the same time. “What’s on your mind, my boy?”_

_“Did you have a family back then on Altea, Coran?” Lance asked. He seemed to immediately regret his question. “Oh, man. Sorry. You probably did and…” Lance started quickly._

_“Yes, I had a family, Lance,” Coran cut him off, stopping him in his blabbering. Lance looked surprised, and the Altean saw curiousness in his eyes. “I had my parents, who were quite old, but lovely. My father had the most glorious moustache I have ever seen. I always tried to grow one as gorgeous as his, but never could. And, of course, there was all those working in the castle with me and the royal family whom I loved as if they were my family too.”_

_Lance smiled, happy to hear about Coran’s family._

_“I miss them, as much as you do yours,” the Altean man added._

_“Yeah… At least, we have our space family,” Lance said, retrieving his cheerfulness._

_"'Space family'?”_

_“Yeah, you’re like our extravagant uncle!” Lance replied._

_Knowing that Lance considered him family warmed Coran’s heart. The Altean man obviously felt this way for the Princess and he paladins, but it made him happy to know that Lance also thought similarly and that it seemed to help him get over his homesickness. He was very fond of the boy, like he was his own son. He actually felt like an uncle to them, not being their real father, but taking care of them and offering the best support he could give as if they were his own children._

_"To be honest, getting through that wormhole with the others inside Blue was really the best decision I ever made. I miss my family, but I'm really happy that we met you and Allura and that we're living this incredible adventure in space. It's like really..."_

 

_“Are you coming? We’re gonna be late,” Keith involuntarily cut Lance off with a complaining tone as he came into view in front of the wide open door of Coran’s room._

_The young half-Galra, contrarily to Lance, didn’t like formal dinners, but still wore customary clothes and had even put his hair in a small ponytail so it looked more elegant. Keith’s hair had grown a lot since he joined team Voltron. Coran made a note to cut everyone’s hair soon.The blue paladin seemed to be hypnotized by his teammate’s appearance._

 

_"...handsome," Lance tried to finish what he was saying before Keith interrupted them. " I meant AWESOME," he reiterated, clumsily trying to correct the mistake he just made, while looking at Coran with some kind of distress in his eyes._

_Coran laughed._ _Lance looked back to Keith with an angry frown._

 

_“It’s not fair! You look good even if you don’t care!” Lance complained, jealous._

_“Oh, come on, I look stupid, you wear this kind of clothes way better than me,” Keith retorted, visibly irritated by Lance's attitude._

_A couple ticks later, they both realized what they were saying and the strange meaning it had. Their faces grew as red as Lance’s lion. Coran saw the growing awkwardness. He decided to intervened, so he started to walk towards the door._

_“You both look handsome, my boys. Now come, let’s join the others,” he said joyfully before they could be overwhelmed by their embarassment._

 

—

 

Coran didn’t know what had happened to the paladins’ team exactly, but he knew it was really bad.

 

“No… No, please no…” Coran heard Keith murmured with a shaky voice over the coms.

 

At that, Coran left the bridge. He knew that whatever had happened certainly involved the poor Earthling still resting in a healing pod. Maybe they had failed their rescue mission. Coran feared with all his being the consequences that it would imply. He was walking fast, almost running. He wanted to reach the blue paladin soon, but he was so scared of what would await him. He was right to be apprehensive, because when he entered the infirmary the pod’s alarm resounded in the big room. Lance’s heart had stopped.

 

“No!” Coran screamed, voice breaking, finally running to the young man.

 

Panic was filling all his limbs. Coran forcefully opened the pod and carried Lance to the medical table not far away. He followed Pidge’s first aid instructions automatically. He learned them a while back, because they realized Humans had to receive first aid a little differently than Alteans. It was as if he wasn’t in control of his body anymore. His thoughts were a mess, but he did what he had to. He pushed on Lance’s chest with all he had, praying that the boy’s heart would restart. He had to save Lance, he had to bring him back to life. The team couldn’t lose him, HE couldn’t lose him.

 

“Please! I beg you! Live, Lance!” he screamed, desperate and emotional.

 

Tears fell down his eyes to the boy’s unresponsive chest.

 

—

 

Allura didn’t know what to do more than cry like all the others as Lance’s soul disappeared and Keith emotions flowed out of him in wailing waves that crashed against all their hearts. They had failed, contrarily to what they had tried so hard to convince themselves they wouldn't do. She had failed yet another loved one. She cared about Lance like a sister, and they had lost him even with all the efforts they put in getting him back. Pidge suddenly hugged her, crying hard as well. The young girl looked up at Allura, searching for some kind of reassurance and a mutual grounding in this heartbreaking moment. Allura hugged Pidge back, feeling as emotionally overwhelmed as her and also needing support.

 

“Well, that was new,” Lishia said, breaking the moment without even looking like they regretted the pain they caused. Allura broke her hug with Pidge and walked to the Neoryan with rage, ready to punch them to death. Keith had said to Sissian that they would do their best to be compassionate towards Lishia, but Allura just couldn’t help it anymore. She wanted revenge and she was so emotionally unstable that she didn’t care how immoral this way of thinking was anymore.

 

Unfortunately, or fortunately, she was stopped by the sudden manifestation of Sissian between her and Lishia. They were facing Allura. They looked around, sadness in their eyes.

 

“This is only a spiritual apparition,” Sissian explained. “I am so sorry for what happened to you all. I wish I could do something to appease your pain, but nothing can repair a broken soul,” they said in a peaceful voice. They emitted a gentle light. They walked to Keith who was bent over his hands, helmet touching the ground, his body shaking and jerking while he cried all the tears in his body. They crouched beside him and placed a hand on his back. The cries slowly faded and Keith fell unconscious to the ground.

 

“He wouldn’t have been able to leave otherwise,” Sissian said, getting back up and walking back to the place they had appeared at. This time, they were facing Lishia who was on their knees, still tied up by Allura's whip, and looked at their sibling with deep hate, as if they were the cause of their situation and all the unknown things that hurt them during their upbringing.

 

 “I’m sorry I didn’t do anything earlier, my dear twin. You are right, you are the true high priest. Let me make it up to you,” Sissian said, bringing their hands to each side of Lishia’s face. They both cried out in pain. Then, Sissian’s apparition disappeared in a flash of white light and left Lishia gaping and wide-eyed. A few ticks passed before she finally seemed to get back to reality.

 

“I can see the truth now… My twin… They sacrificed themselves to enlighten me,” they said, sadness in their voice. Then, they turned to the muscular Neoryan with hurt in their eyes. "You lied to me, you manipulated me, you are the ones I should be fighting against!” they said to their former partner. “I… I did something horrible because I learned how to act in such a disgusting way because of you!” Lishia was crying now. They turned their gaze to Keith, and then over all the paladins. “I’m so sorry,” They cried even harder.

 

At that moment, Allura felt she would be able to be compassionate towards Lishia, even if she could never forgive them.

 

“Team 6 done. Mission… finished,” Allura announced over the coms.

 

“Team 2, you’re the closest to our location. Come, we’ll need help to clear the area,” Kilishka ordered.

 

“We’re on our way!” they answered. 

 

Kilishka put handcuffs on the muscular Neoryan Rebel while Hunk still watch him closely, even with tears streaming down his cheeks. He did the same on Lishia who continued to apologize time to time. Hunk had already swung Keith over his shoulder when they were done securing Lishia. Team Volton was silent except for the occasional sniffs and sobs. All they wanted was to leave this place, and Kilishka finally allowed them to do so when Team 2 was close enough to their location.

 “You can go now, paladins of Voltron. We are really sorry for what happened and we’ll take care of things from now. Thank you for your help, thank you for saving my child and my people,” they said, truly grateful.

 

“In hope that you’ll help us back if we need your co-operation in the future,” Allura said in a sad voice.

 

“Yes, of course, Princess Allura,” they replied.

 

It was the end of their battle against the Neoryan Rebels, but the start of a painful grieving process. The team left the tunnels and quickly thanked the Blades for their help, even if they still hadn’t been able to save the blue paladin. The Blades left afterwards.

 

“Coran?” Allura asked over the coms as the paladins were on her way to Allura, Hunk and Keith's aircrafts. She hadn’t heard of him since their battle started. She knew he must have listened to what had happened, always connected to the paladins’ coms. Silence answered her. She didn’t know why, but he must have had a good reason, whether he was in the infirmary or dealing with his own emotions before the team got back to the castle. “We’ll be there soon,” she added softly.

Pidge dropped Hunk and Allura by their aircrafts and grabbed Keith’s to get back to the castle. Once they were all back in the castle, Hunk and Allura joined Pidge at her lion. Hunk carried Keith on his shoulder again as they headed to the infirmary. Keith needed treatment for his hand, but most importantly they needed to see Lance, even if… even If he wasn’t alive anymore. It was hard for Allura, and surely for the other paladins, to even think about it. It still seemed like an awfully realistic nightmare.

 

When they arrived at the infirmary, they saw Coran there. He was bent over Lance’s body, looking exhausted and sad, eyes full of tears. He noticed them a few ticks later.

 

“Princess…” he said simply in a heavy voice. He walked fast to her, she joined him mid-way and they hugged. Allura started crying again.

 

“I know, Coran, I know,” she told him.

 

Allura and Coran knew what it was to grief. They knew what a long and hard process it could be.

 

But still even with that knowledge, it hurt awfully.

 

This kind of pain would only lessen with time.

 

Probably a lot of time for this one.  


	12. Chapter 12 - By Your Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi dear readers! 
> 
> This chapter is an addition I didn't predict. I just wanted to put in some more Klance content before the end of this fic :) 
> 
> I think this chapter still hurt a lot. So expect the pain to continue... 
> 
> The final chapters will be longer than all the others and may take time to write. Also, as I said, I'll be busy with finals until around december 5th, so until then I might not be able to update chapters as often as I do now. 
> 
> If I do, that means I'll probably be screwed for my exams and I'll need you to pray for me... 
> 
> Anyway, for now I just hope you'll like this chapter too!
> 
> Don't forget to leave kudos and comments :)!
> 
> Thanks!!
> 
> Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/prettygoo-d

[1 Week and a Half Ago — The day after the banquet]

_“There are soldiers everywhere!” Pidge yelled over the coms._

_“You have to get out of there ASAP, Keith!” Lance added, worried._

_“Roger that,” Keith said running inside the corridors of the Galra cruiser they had infiltrated._

_They planned on a stealth mission, but that didn’t work well. The thing was that they didn’t expect the cruiser to have so many Galra soldiers. They were usually able to pass by sentries without much difficulty, but Galra soldiers were a little harder to deal with and to stay unnoticed by them during missions. Pidge said that she had found interesting information on a certain project the Galras were working on, called ‘Operation Kuron’ or something like that. Based on what the green paladin had found, they had to infiltrate a more important ship to get more info on it. Keith always trusted the young girl when it came to gathering essential data that could help them defeat the Galra Empire. Just before the banquet with possibly future allies, they had found a Galra cruiser near them, which met all the requirements Pidge had listed. They decided to go to the banquet and deal with the cruiser afterwards. They were limited in time because they had to reach Neorya to get a needed artifact in less than a week. So, they had organized this mission at the last minute, and that had been a bad idea. At least, Pidge had quickly collected the needed raw data from the cruiser. The problem was that, when the team had been detected by a group of Galra soldiers, they had split up. Allura, Hunk and Keith had decided to deal with the Galras and keep them busy long enough so that Pidge could escape the ship with the data. Lance had joined her to have her back in case they met with other enemies. Keith, Allura and Hunk thought that they could beat enough soldiers to escape as well at some point, but the Galras and sentries kept coming. After a few dobashes, they had been pushed to hide in corridors on each side of the one they were in moments ago. The enemy fire was too much for them to handle. Unfortunately, Keith had hid in a different corridor than Allura and Hunk. Since Keith couldn’t cross the corridor because of the heavy fire directed their way, he had told them to run to Allura’s lion, the only other lion they had used, because she was the best to use the cloaking device Pidge had installed on their lions. He would find a way to escape on his own. They hadn’t like the idea, but there was no other choice at the moment. Keith had then run off on his own. He realized soon enough that he was really in trouble. He couldn’t find his way at all in these corridors. He had asked Pidge to help him, but she was at a loss as well, so until Allura got into her lion and scanned the cruiser with the blue lion's sonar canon to help him find is way to an escape pod or to the hangar, he had to keep running and hiding. When Allura finally scanned the cruiser, Pidge had warned him that he was surrounded by soldiers and that he really had to get out of there. He had received the map and the possible routes that led him to possible escape options. The problem was that the map didn't show the sentries and Galras movement, only where they were at the time of the scan._

_“Guys! I’m nearing the East side of the ship, where the escape pods are!” he announced._

_He was out of breath and started to reach his running limit._

_“No, Keith! It’s a trap! Don’t go there!” Allura had warned him as he was entering the escape pods area._

_“Yeah, well it’s a little too late now,” he replied._

_He was facing a group of Galra soldiers and two Galra generals. When he started backing up, he heard soldiers arriving behind him. He was trapped._

_“Keith? What does that mean, buddy? Nothing we should worry about, right?” Hunk asked, panic evident in his voice._

_He couldn’t tell them the truth. He was usually pretty sure of his abilities, but against so many opponents and two generals, his chances of winning were not looking good._

_“I’ll do my best, but if you don’t hear from me in about 10 dobashes, you leave no matter what. Understood?” Keith said._

_“Keith, don’t you dare say something stupid like that!” Pidge yelled. “Like hell we’re gonna leave you behind!”_

_“Yeah, man, you’re our leader, we’re not leaving without you!” Hunk added._

_“If I’m really your leader, then you'll listen to me,” Keith said._

_“Keith, help is on the way, just hold on until then! We’ll get you out of there!” Allura said, nervous._

_“Surrender or pay the consequence!” One of the generals said stepping forward._

_It was a large and tall woman with prosthetic legs that looked like Shiro’s prosthetic arm. She was intimidating and Keith could feel that she was at least as powerful as Sendak was and he hadn’t been able to beat him alone. Yes, he had improved since then, but he still doubted he could take on a general by himself and even less two. He would still do his best to hold his ground though. The second Galra general looked less of a menace, being a small man with no additional features contrarily to the woman at his side. Maybe he had good fighting skills, but Keith could certainly deal with him alone._

_“I’ll never surrender!” Keith yelled, preparing to attack._

_At least, the others had escaped. The Woman Galra general moved faster than he expected and was suddenly in front of him. He was surprised and braced himself for the punch the Galra was about throw at him. She was to fast for him to even try to block her punch. At that moment, he heard a shot resound in the wide area and Keith saw the Galra women stumble back clutching her shoulder, looking up with anger._

_“Just in time…” Lance said over the coms, sounding out of breath._

_“Lance!” Keith said joyfully, still looking at his opponents, but this time with confidence that he could actually win._

_“The one and only!” Lance replied. “Good to know that you’re so happy to see me,” he added._

_“Couldn’t be happier actually,” he said which rendered Lance’s teasing useless._

_“Well, I-I’m happy to see you’re OK, Mullet. You know, I always got your back.” He said sounding a little embarrassed._

_“Guys, stop flirting and get out of there now!” Pidge said._

_“We’re not flirting!” They both yelled over the coms._

_“Not the point!” She replied._

_Well, she was right, because the other Galra general was about to attack Keith. The soldiers were now trying to shoot Lance from where he was hidden to snipe their enemies. Lance shot the other Galra general before he even got close to Keith. Seeing that Lance was accurately shooting dangerous enemies around him, Keith got into battle as well._

_“I’m coming down!” Lance announced after a few ticks, leaving his hidden position._

_Keith moved fast around the area, trying to avoid enemy fire while defeating as many enemies as he could. But one shot got him on the side of his calf and he cried out in pain._

_“Keith!” Lance yelled in concern as he reached the ground of the area._

_Lance was still far from him on the other side of the area, where Keith had entered from. At least, half the soldiers were defeated. Lance started to run towards Keith while shooting the remaining enemies. Keith was protecting himself from the still incoming enemy fire with his shield when something appeared in his peripheric vision, a little behind him on the side oposite to the one where his shield was. It was the woman Galra general and she was about to attack where he was most vulnerable. He rolled to the side as she was about to punch him, barely evading the attack. She didn’t wait and attacked him again. Keith, with his wounded calf couldn’t move fast enough to evade this one. Fortunately, Lance had finally reached him. He got in front of Keith with his shield ready and took the punch for his teammate. Keith saw Lance be propelled across the area and land hard on his side. Keith reacted automatically and stabbed his opponent in the abdomen. She looked at him with hate, but pain, but was now too much wounded to continue fighting. He retracted his weapon from her body and quickly got up. He looked around, ready to fight other incoming enemies even with his injury, but there were none left. They were all lying on the ground dead, unconscious or heavily injured. He turned his eyes to Lance, worried. The blue paladin was just getting up, looking a little dazed, but not hurt, his paladin gear having most likely protected him against the assault. Lance reached Keith in a little jogging and took one of Keith’s arm to put it over his shoulders as support for his injured leg._

_“Let’s get out of here before more of them come,” Lance said._

_“Good idea,” Keith replied. “Guys, we’re on our way out," he informed the rest of the team over the coms._

_"Yeah, you made it! That was too scary, don't do that again seriously guys!" Hunk said._

_"Can't believe Lance convinced me to let him go back in there, but well... I'm happy you two are OK," Pidge said._

 

_“Well, Keith’s injured, so, Coran, you should prepare a pod, but it's not too serious,” Lance said._

_“Understood, Number 3!” Coran answered._

_The two paladins got into an escape pod and left the cruiser just as another group of soldiers were arriving in the area. Lance was piloting and Keith was sitting on the ground, back against Lance’s chair. The castle was up ahead. They would be reaching it soon. Pidge and Allura's lions were escorting them, which meant there was nothing more to fear. Lance and Keith removed their helmets and got comfortable._

_“Hey, Lance?” Keith asked._

_“Yeah, man?”_

_“Thanks, for saving me back there,” he said._

_“Well, that’s my duty as your right hand, making sure you don’t get yourself killed,” Lance said._

_“Come on, drop the act. I know you would’ve saved me anyway," Keith replied. “And I appreciate that,” he added a tick later._

_“Yeah, OK, you’re right. And, so you know, even when we get Shiro back, because we will, I’d like to still stay by your side.”_

 

_Keith’s heart seemed to flutter for a moment. What had Lance just said? It sounded weird… What did he mean?_

_“I-I mean, training with you and being your right hand... I guess,” Lance clarified, feeling visibly awkward._

_“Sure, Lance, I’d like that too,” Keith said._

_“Oh, OK, it’s cool then,” Lance said, poorly hiding his happiness._

_Keith liked to hear Lance’s clumsiness, it was funny. It also made him feel somewhat lighthearted to know that Lance also wanted them to stay close to each other even when Keith wouldn’t be their leader anymore. That feeling… it was new to him and, honestly, it was the best he had ever felt in his life. He didn’t know what that meant, but he craved it now, he wanted more, and that was really weird, almost irritating, because he didn’t know how to properly react to it. But for the time being he couldn’t help but smile sheepishly in response._

 

_—_

 

Keith woke up with a strange numbness all over his body. His mind felt foggy. Slowly, he started getting back to reality, his body feeling more and more back to normal. He looked around the dark place. He was in his room, lying on his bed in his pajamas. His left hand was hurting so he brought it to his eyes. It was wrapped in bandages. What… Then he started remembering what had happened. He suddenly sat up in his bed. The movement made his head feel dizzy for a moment. He didn't even wait for the dizziness to pass and stoop up. Keith walked out of his room, one hand to the wall to suppport himself. He went directly for Lance’s room. Could it have all been a nightmare? He begged the whole universe that it had been one. That it didn’t happen, that he hadn’t failed Lance, but when the door opened before him, he saw an untouched empty room before him. Nothing had moved since his last visit. He turned around slowly, feeling sorrowful emotions growing in his chest, hurting his heart every time it beat, and building up in his throat, making it harder and harder to breathe.

 

He walked back to his room to get changed, which was hard because of his injured hand. He took his time, he didn’t even want to leave his room anymore, but he knew he had to. There was something he needed to do. He slowly walked along the corridors, going to the infirmary, hoping to find someone there, which would possibly be the case, even if this person might not be alive anymore. He didn’t know how much time he had been unconscious, but it must not have been that long, he guessed.

 

As he was getting close, he came upon Coran.

 

“Keith, you’re awake,” the Altean said. “How are you feeling?”

 

Keith looked away, feeling of grief clear on his face.

 

“Coran, I have a request,” he said softly. “I’d like to go to Earth.”

 

Coran looked surprised for a tick, but then smiled softly.

 

“I think that’s a great idea. I’ll talk to Allura and the others about it,” Coran told him with a sympathetic tone. “May I suggest you go to the Red lion’s hangar, I think that would do you good,” he added.

 

“Thanks, Coran, I’ll do that,” Keith said with a grateful smile.

 

Keith turned around and headed to his former lion’s hangar. He still shared a link with it, but all he could think about was that Lance used to be its pilot as well.

 

Keith wished he could have told Lance that he was the best right hand he could have asked for.

 

He wished Lance could have stayed by his side, as long as he wanted.

 

He wished he had more time with Lance.


	13. Chapter 13 - Sad Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi dear readers!!
> 
> This is the sad ending!
> 
> Keith mourns and comes to some kind of closure regarding Lance's death. 
> 
> There's still a lot of hurt and touching moments. 
> 
> I hope you'll like it! 
> 
> Don't forget to leave kudos and comments!
> 
> Thanks!!

[SAD ENDING]

 

Keith had spent a lot of time in the red lion’s hangar lately. He was slowly going back to his old self, isolating himself less and less and restarting to act like a leader. They had done some kind of funeral ceremony for Lance, and had also decided to incinerate his body. Since then, Keith always slept in Lance’s room wearing his helmet to fall asleep to the blue paladin’s voice repeating always the same things in his ears, like a sweet lullaby. Sometimes, he would wake up in the middle of the night to nightmares, images of true events, when Lance was captured or when his soul disappeared in front of Keith’s eyes, for example. He would then get up and wander the corridors until he found a window to settle against or until he reached Red’s hangar and ended up sitting in the pilot’s seat. He often wore Lance’s jacket too, it comforted him. What he most liked with Red was that something weird made him feel like Lance was somewhat still there with them. Coran had explained that a small part of Lance’s quintessence had certainly stayed with Red, because of their connection. This hypothesis made Keith feel a little better, it would mean that even though Lance was dead, part of his soul hadn’t been destroyed by Lishia thanks to the lion’s unimaginable powers and the strong quintessential connection they shared with their pilots. Keith also felt Lance’s presence when he was in the black lion, but it was stronger in Red. Coran had told Keith to go there when he had woken up after Lance’s death, because Hunk, Pidge and Allura had told him they could also feel as if Lance was still there, in the back of the lions’ connection to them.

 

Keith was leaving Red, having just woken up from half a night in the pilot seat. He headed to the kitchen, feeling a little hungry. As expected, Hunk was there, still cooking. This time it looked and smelled like croissants. Keith hoped it would taste as good, but really it felt like everything he ate since Lance’s death tasted bitter. Pidge must have felt the same way, because she didn’t eat as much as she used to. She had lost a little weight that she honestly couldn’t afford to lose. That’s why she was now forced to eat a minimal amount of food every day on Coran’s orders. On the opposite, Allura ate a lot now. She had gained a few pounds already in only a couple of weeks. At least, it wasn’t too concerning, not like Coran who overworked himself. He kept himself so busy that he didn’t get enough rest, Keith could see it in the dark circles under the Altean man’s eyes and the way he seemed to have aged a few years. But they were somewhat getting better. Sure enough, it would never be the same without Lance and none of them would ever be able to forgive themselves for failing him, but they would come to continue their journey without feeling sadness in their chest all the time.

 

“Tell me what you think,” Hunk said with a smile, giving a plate with a croissant to Keith. “I think I really got something there,” he added proudly.

 

Keith took a bite. It really tasted like croissants, but still, Keith couldn’t bring himself to like it.

 

“Yeah, definitely a croissant,” Keith answered.

 

“Good! But seriously, when we get to Earth, I’ll buy a bunch of essential ingredients and do real ones,” Hunk announced. “We’re supposed to arrive there soon, right?” Hunk asked.

 

“Yes, Number 4! One more wormhole and we’ll be close to Kerberos. From there, we’ll take Pidge’s lion to get to Earth with its cloaking abilities, because, as you told us, Humans wouldn’t react well to your arrival in a space ship and that could be troublesome for us,” Coran explained as he entered the kitchen with Pidge and Allura behind him.

 

“I wish I could visit your planet too, Lance used to say that it was beautiful, especially the beach,” Allura said, with a growing sorrowful tone.

 

“He also said he missed rain, once, I hope I could experience it too,” Coran added in a sad but hopeful tone.

 

There was silence for a moment. They decided that Hunk and Pidge would take this short vacation to visit their families while Coran and Keith would go to Lance’s family to inform them of Lance’s death and give them his ashes. Only Allura would stay to look after the castle. Keith had pinky promised to bring Lance home, and, after failing all the promises he made to him, he would make sure to at least fulfil this one.

 

 “So, what did you cook for us today, Number 4? It smells really appetizing!” Coran said with his usual enthusiastic tone, effectively changing the subject.

 

Hunk started explaining his recipe to the Altean man and Allura, who was also really interested. Pidge came to stand by Keith’s side.

 

“You’ll be OK down there?” Pidge asked, concerned.

 

“No, really not, but I have to do this. I owe it to Lance. At least, Coran will be there with me,” he said.

 

“Yeah… You’ll get through this Keith, we’ll all get through this eventually,” Pidge replied. “And, so you know, the info we got from the infiltration on the battle cruiser, I finally got access to it last night. The so-called ‘Operation Kuron’… It seems linked to Shiro somehow. So, after our trip on Earth, maybe we’ll be able to get one of our lost paladins back,” Pidge explained.

 

Keith looked at her with surprise and hope in his eyes and then smiled softly. They finally found some clue that could lead them to Shiro. Pidge looked happy and hopeful, but scared. She didn’t want to get her hopes up, and Keith felt the same way. After being so sure that they would be able to save Lance, but not succeeding in doing so, they felt broken and betrayed by their own hopes. If they had just accepted the risk that they might fail and lose him no matter the efforts they put in retrieving the Cuban boy, it might have hurt less. That’s why they were protecting themselves from now on by not letting themselves be blindly optimistic anymore. Keith was happy to know they had some kind of lead on Shiro, but he acknowledged the fact that maybe they were also too late to save him. But, no matter what, they would do everything they could to find him or at least know what happened to him.

 

Keith thanked her for the info and gave her the rest of his croissant before leaving the kitchen. He put Lance’s jacket back in the blue paladin’s room, beside his helmet. He put personal stuff that Lance’s family would maybe like to have back in boxes. He hated that he had to change anything of Lance’s room, Keith wanted it to stay exactly as it was, as if not to offence the blue paladin if he miraculously came back. But Keith knew he had to do this if he wanted to move forward in his mourning process. Lance would not come back, he was gone forever. Keith only kept Lance’s jacket. He just couldn’t part with it. It was his memento of Lance. After a while, he finally brought the Cuban’s stuff to the bridge where the others were gathered before going to Earth. Everyone chose their own memento in the boxes.

 

There was only one thing that was really important to bring though: Lance’s urn. It was an Altean looking cylinder, all white, with a gold line near the top that surrounded some luminous diamond shaped Balmera crystal. On top, there was the blue sign of the Voltron paladins. It was really alien, but also really beautiful. It fitted Lance, not only because of the beautiful part, but also because it reflected his passion for space and the important role he had played as a defender of the universe. Keith planned on telling Lance’s family all the truth, even if it sounded crazy. They deserved to know that he had saved many planets and fought for the greater good. They needed to know how brave he had been and how much of a hero he was. Unfortunately, he died because he had been involved in some stupid civil war. Keith was angry when he thought about it. For all the battles they had fought against the Galra, for all the time they had risked their lives in heroic missions, Lance had uselessly been killed. If only… If only Keith could find some reason, some deep meaning to Lance’s death, or if he could blame it on some noble act that had cost his life, it would be easier. But there was nothing. There was only pain and anger.

 

 

—

 

 

The temperature in Cuba was really hot and the sun was bright in an afternoon cloudless sky. Coran was dressed to fit in and had altered his Altean markings to fit in, thanks to his metamorphosis abilities. Coran looked around the village Pidge had dropped them at with awe and curiosity. Keith let him have his fun at first, but soon enough he started feeling annoyed at the way Coran acted, especially when it reached a point where he had to stop him from randomly asking weird questions to strangers. To be honest, Keith felt awkward in his home planet. Maybe it was because of his now known Galra heritage, or just because it had been a long time and he had experienced so many awesome things over the past decaphoebs that walking into a place so mundane didn’t feel right to him anymore. After a few turns, following Hunk’s itinerary to Lance’s home, they finally arrived in front of a big house at the end of a calm street. It looked old, but lovely. It felt heartwarming just looking at it... and Keith thought of calling it off. He didn’t want to bring sadness to such a sweet place. But Lance would have wanted this, so he breathed deeply and mustered the courage to walk to the door with Coran behind him. Keith hesitantly pushed the doorbell button on the side of the door. When he heard the ringing resound in the house, he knew he couldn’t back down anymore. Coran put a hand on his shoulder a moment, to show his support. He must have felt his distress.

 

Then the door opened and he was faced with a small woman. Her skin tone was a lighter than Lance, but she definitely had the same blue eyes and the same joyous smile. And that hurt more than Keith had expected.

 

“Hi, may I help you?” the woman asked.

 

“A-Are you Lance’s mother?” Keith asked hesitantly.

 

The woman’s smile faltered and her eyes went to the boxes Coran and Keith were carrying. She surely had a clue of what she would hear next.

 

“Yes, I am. And you are?” she asked.

 

“We were Lance’s comrades,” Coran answered in a soft tone, helping Keith through this.“Could we maybe talk inside?”

 

“Sure,” Lance’s mom said, moving to the side to let them in.

 

Keith stayed outside a tick more than Coran. The woman grabbed his hand gently to stop him as he was passing by her, pushing the door behind him to close it. She put both her hands around his and he looked at her, uncertain.

 

“I can see the pain in your eyes. It’s alright, I know…” she said as her voice was breaking and her eyes were watering.

 

They both looked at each other for a few ticks, understanding both their feelings for a moment.

 

“I’m so sorry…” Keith finally broke down, the two dropped to their knees and hugged while crying, as if they already knew each other.

 

Their cries were not agonizing, Lance's mother and Keith both had already done some sort of mourning for Lance before, it was just bringing some kind of closure to it, or getting them close enough to it to allow them to move on from this point forward. Their little moment didn’t last more than 15 dobashes. After that, they sat around a table and explained everything to Lance’s mother, named Maria. She was understanding and didn’t seem to doubt them even a moment. They gave her Lance’s urn and she let some tears fall again as she hugged it. Then, she thanked them for their honesty and for bringing his urn to his family.

 

Afterwards, she asked them to stay for the time of their visit on Earth. She told them they could sleep in the unused rooms of her now gone children. She told them that she would invite her children for a unplanned family dinner the same night so they could meet everyone and tell them Lance’s adventure in space and his unfortunate death.

 

Some tried to tell her that they couldn’t come because they had things planned already, but she convinced them easily by saying that it concerned Lance. So, a varga later, Coran and Keith were helping Maria as she prepared a big dinner for her guests. They talked and shared stories about Lance. Maria had a bunch of funny stories to tell, which Lance would certainly have found humiliating. Keith was happy to hear about his lost teammate. He also shared some anecdotes of his own that happened to her son and him, like the time Lance got bit a Spiked Bugliant on a jungle-type planet. He told her about how her son missed his family and even about the imaginary day on Earth Lance and him had planned.

 

“It looks like you were really in love with each other,” she said with a compassionate smile.

 

“Actually, we… we were too late to figure it out,” Keith said.

 

“It is never too late to love someone,” Maria replied. “Even if you haven’t been able to enjoy being together as a couple while he was alive, you still cared for each other and showed it in the way that was most comfortable to you at that moment. Even if he is gone now, you can still continue to love him with all your heart.”

 

Keith smiled at that, touched by her words. Then the bell rang and Maria got up to answer the door. One after the other, Maria’s children arrived to their mother’s house. She gently introduced Keith and Coran to Lance’s siblings as his friends. They were all lively and interesting. They asked them a bunch of questions, to which they couldn’t always answer because they still didn’t know of what happened to Lance these past decaphoebs. Maria had asked them to wait until dinner, when everyone would be there, to share their story. Finally, her husband got home too. Maria served dinner, and that included the famous garlic bread that Lance had praised so much, and they were truly delicious. It surprised Keith because it was the first thing that had tasted good to him since Lance’s death. Maria, once everyone was ready at the table, asked Keith to tell them all that he had explained to her earlier.

 

Everyone ate while listening intently to Keith’s story. At first, some interrupted him, thinking that he was messing with them, but Maria strictly told them to continue to listen to him. So, he was able to tell them everything in the end. After that, some cried, others left the table and isolated themselves for a while, dealing with their emotions by themselves. Lance’s father, Aurelio, didn’t react much, fixing the table for some time. Keith wasn’t comfortable at all. This was what he was afraid would happen. But then, Maria put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

 

“Let them have their time. You did well,” she reassured him.

 

Keith felt better already. That motherly feeling, he liked it almost as much as the lighthearted feeling Lance used to give him. After some time, the family got back together and the lively atmosphere came back slowly through the evening. It seemed they had already planned to meet the next day. It was a Saturday, and Maria explained that her children always came to her house those days. Unfortunately, their gathering this time would also be in memory of Lance.

 

That night, Keith chose to sleep in Lance’s room. It was similar to his room in space, clean but personalized. There were posters of planets and space ships on the wall facing the side of Lance’s bed. Keith fell asleep surrounded by Lance’s presence and dreams.

 

The next day, they all went to the beach. Maria had made it her duty to do with Keith most of the imaginary day he had planned with Lance. That meant swimming in the sea for the first time, eating ice cream, listening and dancing to Latin music, going shell-searching, playing volleyball in the sand with Lance’s siblings and, finally, star gazing. It was weird to experience all this with Lance’s mother, because every time they did something on the list Lance and him had made, Keith realized that it resembled a romantic date. So, all this time, they had been oblivious to their mutual pining.

 

Just around dinner, dark clouds appeared on the horizon. Some time later, it covered the sun and the wind picked up and thunder rumbled around them. They all quickly packed their stuff and went back home. As they were about to reach the house, it started raining on them. And Keith just suddenly stopped moving. Lance had said to Coran that he missed rain. Now that he wasn’t there to see rain again, Keith decided to appreciate every drop that touched his skin in Lance’s stead. He closed his eyes, turned away from the open door of Lance's family’s house and lifted his head towards the dark sky. It started raining harder, thunder roared around him and Keith cried again, this time it wasn’t really of sadness and sorrow, but more because he really enjoyed his day and he was grateful to experience these things Lance liked to do, he felt closer to the fallen boy now and that brought him some kind of bittersweet comfort.

 

After a couple of ticks, someone came up beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. When he opened his eyes, he saw Coran who looked at him with sorry eyes, and then the man opened his other hand to the sky to feel the drops of water falling on it and smiled in fascination.

 

Keith and Coran got back inside after a little more ticks. Once in the house, they realized that they were now dripping wet. Maria got them towels and warm clothes. They changed and helped Maria as she started to prepare dinner for her family and guests. It was so nice, so heartwarming and kind of curing. Lance had, even if he would never know, led Keith to this wonderful place to meet his lovely family and spend the best day of his life with them. He was so thankful that Lance had been part of his life, and the Cuban boy still made him happy without even being there anymore.

 

After dinner, Keith went outside to look at the stars. This was the last thing on the list. Maria joined him soon after. They didn’t talk for a while, simply enjoying the calm of the night and the beautiful stars above them.

 

“Thank you, Maria, for this wonderful day. It means a lot to me,” he finally said.

 

“No, thank YOU for bringing my son back home,” she replied.

 

At that moment, Keith felt a big weight lift off his heart.

 

“Thank you for everything, Lance,” he thought.

 

~ THE END ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you think of this ending and the entire fic ^.^!!
> 
> The happy ending should come out soon! (I just have to proof read-it)
> 
> Tumblr: prettygoo-d


	14. Chapter 13 - Happy Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I dear reader! 
> 
> Here's the Happy Ending!
> 
> It's full of fluff and Klance. And if you like cheesy stuff than you're served!
> 
> Please, tell me what you think of it and of this fic in general.
> 
> And don't forget to leave kudos!
> 
> Thanks!!

Keith walked slowly to Red’s hangar. He just couldn’t get the last memory he had of Lance out of his head. Lance loved him too, but now he was gone.  

 

When he finally reached the hangar, there were already people there. He lifted his head off the ground to find Hunk, Allura and Pidge with smiles on their faces and… and…

 

“Lance?” He asked with a small voice that still seemed to resonate throughout the hangar.

 

The blue paladin had his back to Keith and a hand touching Red’s nose in an affectionate way. When he heard his name, Lance turned around. He was still wearing his pod’s suit under his bathrobe. He looked a little perplex for a few ticks.

 

“Keith…” he finally said, and the half-Galra could hear all the overwhelming emotions in Lance’s voice.

 

Lance took two hesitant steps towards Keith, dropping his hand from Red’s nose. But Keith was already running to him. He jumped into Lance’s arms without even thinking. When their bodies collided, a deep shaky exhale left Keith’s lungs. It was really him, he was there, he could feel him, he was alive… Lance stumbled back a bit, but was able to stay upright. He hugged Keith back as tight. Keith was so happy to see him, he really thought he’d never see Lance again. He couldn’t hold the tears that escaped his eyes.

 

“It’s alright, Keith. I’m here, I’m fine…” Lance said reassuringly.

 

Then Keith backed up and took Lance’s face in his hands, and looked directly in the Cuban’s eyes. Lance was smiling with a concerned look, he was clearly touched by Keith’s reaction. Keith’s hands dropped to Lance’s shoulders and Keith looked Lance over, as if to make sure he was alright and there.  

 

“But… How?” Keith asked puzzled.

 

“It’s thanks to the lions and Coran,” Lance said slightly turning to Red. “You know this super cool connection we have with the lions? Yeah, well, it’s linked to our quintessence, so the lions were able to save my soul with their magic abilities or something. The only thing that they couldn’t save was my body. I died for a bit, but Coran reanimated me, and there I am, back to the living!” Lance explained joyfully.

 

Keith was smiling. He was so happy to hear Lance talk, it sounded like the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.

 

“I don’t remember much of what happened, honestly, though. My head is still a little foggy,” Lance said.

 

And then Keith felt really awkward. He had just hugged Lance and hold his face and cried shamelessly in front of him, thinking that they were now at this level of intimacy in their relationship, but for Lance it must have been shocking or weird. Keith took a step back, feeling as if the closeness was now uncomfortable.

 

“Anyway, I’m glad that you’re back,” Keith said turning his gaze away being more and more embarrassed by his reaction. “I’ll, hum… I’ll go see if Coran needs my help with something. You take care of yourself and try not to die this time,” Keith said, really wanting to escape this awkward situation.

 

He turned around and walked quickly to exit the hangar, his face was getting redder because of his growing shame. Yes, he had come to certain realizations with all that had happened, but was Lance also ready to acknowledge his own feelings for Keith. If he didn’t remember what had happened, then he certainly didn’t remember Keith confessing, OK, more like desperately screaming his feeling to him. He also most likely didn’t remember saying that he loved Keith either. Lance didn’t move for a few ticks, confused.

 

“Wha-wait Keith!” He called running after the red paladin.

 

“Not fair!” Hunk complained as his best friend and Keith were getting out of the hangar. “They were all lovey-dovey at first, I even cried a bit!”

 

“Yeah, I was sure to lose the bet, and honestly I didn’t even care. Guess it’s a tie, eh?” Pidge announced.

 

Keith heard them talk and was pretty sure Lance did too. It made him even more embarrassed. Couldn’t they see that this really wasn’t the time to talk about them being ‘lovey-dovey’? He didn’t know what their bet was, and he didn’t really care, but it seemed to be about his relationship with Lance or something like that. They could have at least waited for them to be out of hearing before talking about it. Keith was irritated now, things were just getting worse… But he was wrong. A hand on his shoulder stopped him in his track.

 

“Keith, what’s going on? Did I say something wrong?” Lance asked, concerned.

 

Keith turned his gaze away. He couldn’t stand to look at his beautiful blue eyes too long without feeling bad.

 

“Seriously, you know you can tell me anything, right? I think we passed that stage already,” Lance said.

 

“It’s just my reaction… you must be thinking that it was super weird. I’m sorry,” Keith replied.

 

Lance looked at him, perplex. As if Keith’s explanation didn’t make sense to him.

 

“No, it wasn’t weird at all. I mean, you confessed to me, so I guess it’s totally normal for you to get a little touchy and cry like a baby when you saw me… alive, you know,” Lance said, blushing and turning his gaze away as Keith’s turned back to Lance.

 

“I wasn’t crying like a baby, I was just a bit emotional!” Keith started, offended. “Wait… You remember that I said…”

 

“Yes, Keith, I remember until Lishia extracted my soul, the others told my what happened after that. Anyway, it was not the best confession ever, a little at the last minute and you did it screaming and crying, so it kinda ruined it a bit, I’m more of a sweet romantic guy, but… I was really happy you said it. And I promised myself that if I made it out alive, I’d ask you on a date. So, hum, would you like to go on a date with me?” Lance said.

 

Keith looked at him for a long moment, dumbfounded. He really didn’t expect that. When his thoughts got back from their initial shock, he stammered his reply.

 

“Yes, yes Lance, I’d really like that. And I have just the right place for it!” Keith said happily, which was a little out of character, but he guessed love did that to people sometimes, including him.

 

“What? No, Keith, I asked you, so I organize the date, that’s how it works,” Lance replied before seeing Keith’s decisive almost angry expression. “OK, fine, you chose. So, where is it gonna be?”

 

“It’s a surprise,” Keith answered simply.

 

“No, I have to organize it, so you have to tell me!” Lance complained.

 

“No need to organize it, we’re gonna have fun anyway,” Keith replied.

 

“I guess, but still…” Lance started.

 

“Do you trust me?” Keith interrupted him without thinking. He had a moment to fear the answer Lance would give him. Lance had no reason to trust him anymore, Keith had failed all the promises he had made him so far.

 

“Of course, I trust you, it’s just that I would have liked to be the one preparing the date and all…” Lance said, a little grumpy.

 

Keith, happy to hear Lance’s answer and to have a date with him, took Lance’s hand and intertwined their little fingers.

 

“I pinky promise that you’ll still be in charge and know exactly what to do there,” Keith said reassuringly.

 

“Pinky promise, uh?” Lance said with a smile, blushing a little as they stared into each other’s eyes. Both looked at the other with emotions they didn’t dare show before. But with all that had happened, they wouldn’t deny their feelings anymore. They didn’t know when war or aliens would take their lives, so they had to live every second to the fullest.

 

 

—

 

 

“Seriously, was that really necessary?” Lance asked, gripping Keith’s forearm as they got down Pidge’s lion. Lance was blindfolded. The blue paladin didn’t know that, but Allura had wormholed them close to Kerberos. From there, they had taken Pidge’s lion to get to Earth with its cloaking abilities, because, Humans wouldn’t have reacted well to their arrival in a space ship and that would have been troublesome for them.

 

“Yes, because it’s a surprise,” Keith replied.

 

The only thing Lance knew was that everyone wanted to go there. Only Coran stayed in the castle to look after it. Allura, Pidge and Hunk would go their own way and Lance and Keith would be left alone to their much-awaited date. Then, Lance seem to have a clue of where they were, certainly because of the salted air of this place he hadn’t visited in such a long time. When he touched the ground, Keith informed Pidge that she could go and thanked her.

 

“No problem, guys! Enjoy your date!” she replied, leaving with her lion, Hunk and Allura still on board.

 

Keith then removed the mask that covered Lance’s eyes. Lance was met with a beautiful view of the sea on a cloudless day. But he knew exactly where he was. He was home. He turned to Keith with tears in his eyes and jumped into the other boy’s arms. They both fell to the ground laughing.

 

“Good choice, Mullet,” Lance said, finally sitting up. He looked back at the sea. “Thank you,” he added softly. Then realization hit him. Lance got up suddenly, grabbed Keith’s arm and they ran from the beach into a path that led to a big, lovely house. Lance stopped and stared at it for a few ticks. Then he started walking towards it. When he arrived to the front door he simply opened it. Keith knew what it meant. It was Lance’s home. Lance looked terrified, but Keith didn’t know why.

 

“Who’s there?” a woman asked, stepping into their field of view. She was small, her skin tone was a lighter than Lance’s, but she definitely had the same blue eyes and the same joyous smile.

 

Then, Keith understood why Lance was scared. They saw the woman’s face fell and she started crying. She ran to Lance and hugged him tightly.

 

“My son… My precious son…” she cried.

 

“Mama…” Lance said, also crying.

 

After a few dobashes, they both calmed down.

 

“Where were you?” Lance’s mother asked, concerned and curious.

 

“It’s a long story, but you’d be proud of me, mama,” Lance answered, and then turned to Keith. “This is Keith, we’re… we’re dating,” Lance said.

 

“So, you’re the one who took him away from us?” Lance’s mother asked with some kind of grudge.

 

“Actually, I was the one who took him away from… Earth,” Lance said, looking a little bit ashamed. “Anyway, are the others here?” Lance asked before she could ask questions.

 

“Yes, they’re in the back. Come!” she replied, starting towards the back of the house.

 

They followed her. There, they met with other members of Lance’s family. They were all very emotive and cried, and hugged a lot. Keith was left on the side. He didn’t mind for now, he was simply happy to see Lance with such a joyful smile, even when he was crying. Then, Lance introduced him to the rest of his family. They were lucky, Lance and him had come to Earth on a Saturday, and Lance’s family always met on that day.

 

“Where have you been? Why didn’t you call?” his big brother asked, a little bit angry but still relieved to see that his little brother was fine.

 

“Yeah! We thought you were dead!” His younger brother added.

 

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” he replied.

 

“Try us,” his sister said.

 

“We were in space,” Keith finally answered.

 

“What?” They all asked, surprised.

 

“Yeah, and it’s not just that! We went there in this huge magical lion ship! There were Shiro, Pidge, Hunk, Keith and I, and Blue, my former lion, brought us to Arus, a planet at the other side of the galaxy, where we met this alien princess and her advisor…” Lance told his story with enthusiasm, not letting anyone put in a comment or state their doubts. Keith stood beside his partner, adding some info, sometimes just to embarrass Lance a little, other times to confirm certain facts and prove his family that Lance was telling the truth.

 

They were really into their story until they got to tell what happened on Neorya. Then the two boys stopped talking for a moment.

 

“What happened on Neorya?” Lance’s sister asked, curious.

 

They looked around and saw that everyone was staring at them, waiting for the rest of their incredible story.

 

“There, Lance was captured by Rebels. He almost died,” Keith answered without much detail.

 

“Actually, I died, but the lions and Coran saved me,” Lance said, lifting his shirt to show the scar on his side as proof. They seemed all really worried, but they didn’t comment on it, letting him continue his explanation. “There was this weird alien, she could extract people’s souls, and she got mine. When Keith and the others went to save my soul, she crushed it. But the lions were able to save my soul, because my quintessence is linked to theirs, and Coran saved my body.”

 

“Then, is that why you’re here now?” Lance’s younger brother asked. “Because you almost died?”

 

“No, it’s thanks to Keith here, who brought me back to Earth for a date, and after all that happened, I guess Coran and Allura couldn’t refuse. Normally, we wouldn’t take the time to get back to Earth, because, you know, we’re the defenders of the universe and we battle evil all the time, but I suppose it’s a special occasion and everyone needed some time away from our usually dangerous lifestyle,” Lance explained.

 

“Well, this is awesome Lance! Your dreams came true,” Lance younger brother told him.

 

“But that means you’ll be going back,” his sister pointed out.

 

Lance looked at Keith and, then, back at his family.

 

“Yes, I’m a paladin of Voltron. I was chosen by Blue and Red to pilot them. I’m Keith’s right hand. People across the galaxy and my team need me,” Lance said with a serious tone.

 

“Well, my son, we’re proud of you,” a man said behind the two paladins.

 

They both turned around and saw a tall man looking at them with a happy, yet sad expression.

 

“Dad!” Lance exclaimed, walking to him. They hugged and it was way less emotional than with Lance’s mother earlier.

 

“I heard most of your story. I’m glad I got to see you again, my son,” Lance’s father said, voice heavy with emotions he hardly contained.

 

After that touching reunion, the two boys and Lance’s family went to the beach. Lance took control over their date and it started officially once they got there. Basically, their date was the imaginary day on Earth they had planned for such a long time. Keith had borrowed one of Lance’s swimsuits and they both went swimming as soon as they arrived at the beach. Lance was so excited and happy that Keith could barely keep up with the boy he loved. Lance dragged him to the water, holding his hand. They ran into the water and fell into it as one, still holding onto each other. They laughed and Keith complained about how salty the water was. Then, he looked at Lance. Keith was completely stunned by how gorgeous the other boy looked at that moment, body dripping wet, every droplet sparkling in the sun, his smile beaming and his eyes full of life and joy. Yes, Lance was always beautiful, but Keith would never forget this luminous sight. Lance, without even noticing Keith’s unusually long stare, turned around and dove into the sea. Keith followed him. They swam for a while and then got out of the water. They had other things planned for their day, and not much time.

 

They ate ice cream, went shell-searching and played volleyball with Lance’s siblings. Obviously, they won, being really in shape because of their regular training in the castle and also being used to working together as teammates. Then dark clouds appeared in the sky near dinner time. They all packed their stuff and got back to Lance’s house. They arrived just in time before it started raining. Thunder roared, but it wasn’t a big storm. Suddenly, Lance grabbed Keith’s hand and dragged him out. As he was about to complain, he saw Lance smile deeply and the Cuban boy started dancing into the rain.

 

“I missed rain so much!” he said taking Keith’s hands and making him jump and turn around and play in the puddles with him. Keith hesitated before letting himself be guided by Lance’s movements, but then he told himself he had nothing to lose and he really wanted to give his all to make Lance’s day awesome. That meant he had to act past his usual grumpy attitude and his pride. So, he ended up imitating Lance. Soon enough he realized that he really enjoyed it. They both looked stupid, but they didn’t care. They were still in their swimsuits, laughing and playing, as if they were children again. Keith never had that much fun in his entire life. They both fell a couple of times in the mud, they were soon covered in it. Keith used to be always serious and reserved, but in that moment, he really let himself enjoy every bit of irresponsibility and carelessness he could behave with.

 

After that, they couldn’t get back inside the house, because they were too muddy, so they had to stay on the porch, under a little roof. They sat down side by side with towels Lance’s mother, named Maria, had brought them. Once the storm would pass, they would have to go to the free showers at the beach to get washed. They both talked of their life on Earth and what they liked about space while holding hands. Since Lance had asked Keith on a date, a couple of quintents before, they started confiding in each other more and more and getting growingly closer, both emotionally and physically. However, the most they had done so far physically was to cuddle and hold hands. They were taking their time, and it was fine with the both of them.

 

After the rain passed and they took their shower at the beach, they got back home just in time for dinner. Lance’s entire family was still there. Maria had made garlic bread, to Lance‘s demand, and they were as good as he had praised them to be. The dinner was lively, everyone kept asking him questions like: “What planet did you like the most?” or “Which aliens were the nicest?" Lance’s family believed their story and were really interested in it. Keith was really jealous of Lance. He had such a great family. It certainly was not always that harmonious, but still he was glad he got to meet them. They also seemed to like him, asking him questions and including him in their conversations all the time. He felt as if he was also part of their family. He felt like he belonged there. Yeah, it hadn’t been a day yet, but if he was to return to Earth someday, he would gladly come back here with Lance.  

 

After dinner, Keith and Lance helped Maria do the dishes. Lance’s siblings borrowed the blue paladin for a bit, wanting to show him the things he missed while away in space. Keith was now alone with Lance’s mother.

 

“I’m sorry for my reaction earlier, I just wanted to tease you a bit,” she said, breaking the silence. “Lance seems to like you a lot, I can see it in his eyes. And you love him, it’s pretty obvious. So, please, take care of him and don’t let him do stupid things. Sometimes he can be pretty carefree and reckless,” she added.

 

“Yes, madam,” Keith said with an amused expression.

 

“Call me Maria,” she told him with a gentle smile.

 

“OK, Maria,” he replied. After a couple ticks, he decided to add something to their small conversation. “You know, Lance has matured a lot in the past years. He’s still carefree sometimes, but, to be honest, he’s actually the one preventing me from doing stupid things,” Keith admitted.

 

“Really?” she said in a surprised tone. “You seem so calm. It might just be because you’re shy or because you’re having a good time, so it doesn’t really show. Anyway… Thanks for bringing my son back home.”

 

Her words seemed to relief Keith’s heart from such a weight that it felt as if it would fly out of his chest. He hadn’t been able to respect most of the promises he made to Lance, but at least he got him back to Earth, to his family, even if it was just for a day. He smiled softly, too emotive now to answer Maria, and she seemed to notice, so she didn’t add anything either.

 

As he was about to be done with the dishes, Lance came back and turned up the music that was playing in the background. It was some pop Latin music that Keith didn’t know of. But Lance sure did. He was singing the lyrics as if he had written them himself. He dragged Keith away from his chore. Lance put a hand on his hip and Keith felt a blush spread on his cheeks as Lance’s body was so close to his. Yeah that still happened sometimes, even though they had been dating for a couple of quintents already.

 

“No, Lance,” Keith said, overwhelmed by the closeness.

 

“Yes, Lance,” Lance corrected. “It was on the list!”

 

“Yeah, I can dance by myself, but not with someone else,” Keith said.

 

“What? Come one, I’m not just ‘someone else’, I’m…” Lance started with an offended tone.

 

“Yeah?” Keith asked. He knew, deep down, what Lance wanted to say, but they still hadn’t made it official, so that was still an issue.

 

“I’m an incredible dancer,” Lance finally answered.  

 

Keith looked at him with some kind of annoyance. But then, Lance started to move them around the big living room. Keith followed Lance’s movements awkwardly. He was really bad, but Lance was patient. When Keith stumbled, Lance caught him gently and showed him how to do the moves he seemed to be struggling with. What started as a clumsy motion became a cute romantic dance. For a moment, once Keith was good enough not to step on Lance’s feet if he didn’t look down, they stared into each other’s eyes, and they could see that they both shared the same deep feelings. As they were reaching some kind of climax in this dreamy moment, the slow music that was playing changed for a festive one and Lance suddenly turned away from Keith to look at his younger brother.

 

“It’s our song!” They both screamed in excitement, and then started singing along louder than the already almost deafening music. Keith was a little disappointed that the moment had been broken, but he was happy that Lance was having so much fun. That was the point of their visit on Earth.

 

Keith, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the music and the boisterous brothers, decided to go outside for a bit. Once there, he sat on the porch, so he could see the stars. This was the last activity on their list of things they wanted to do on their imaginary day on Earth: stargazing. Keith thought back to all that they had planned weeks ago for this day and realized that it resembled a romantic date. So, all this time, they had been oblivious to their mutual pining. He laughed softly at that. Lance then sat down beside him. He seemed out of breath, which was expected since he danced so much and sang at the same time. Lance was still so bright even in the darkness of the night, smile big and white, eyes sparkling. Lance was like a star, brilliant and beautiful. Keith couldn’t help but stare again. Lance was looking at the sky.

 

“This really was the best date ever, Mullet. It’s weird, because I feel like you were the one who organized it, but you still kept your promise to let me have control over what we were doing,” Lance said, looking overjoyed. The Cuban boy then turned his face to him, eyes loving and cheeks flushed. “Thank you for this unforgettable day, Keith,” he added before leaning down and kissing him tenderly. It was their first kiss and it was perfect. Like Keith had imagined it would be. It was full of growing love and care. Keith brought one of his hands to Lance’s jaw and kissed him back. After a small moment, they pulled away, but stayed close, foreheads touching.

 

Keith had already realized, weeks before, that, to him, every moment with Lance was a gift.

 

And this date was one of many future memorable moments they would share.

 

“Thank you for everything, Lance,” Keith said softly.

 

~ THE END ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you think of this ending and the entire fic ^.^!!
> 
> Tumblr: prettygoo-d


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